President Barack Obama's visit to Anchorage in late August and early September cost the city more than a half-million dollars in police overtime and other charges, a city spokesman said Thursday.
But a media analysis firm found that a stunning number of people worldwide -- 373 million, equivalent to more than the entire U.S. population -- were exposed during that time to something about Anchorage through traditional and social media, city spokesman Myer Hutchinson said in an emailed statement. The city's tourism bureau, Visit Anchorage, asked Maryland public relations firm Cision Inc. to come up with the estimate.
Julie Saupe, CEO of Visit Anchorage, said 373 million is most likely a conservative number. She said the estimate was calculated based on a few keyword searches ("travel to Anchorage, Alaska," "Dena'ina Civic Convention Center," "Chugach Mountains" and "Portage Glacier") and on circulation statistics for media outlets.
Saupe said Visit Anchorage wanted to report on media exposure for the city through the State Department's Global Leadership in the Arctic conference — GLACIER, an international forum on climate change. The bureau aims to boost Anchorage's visibility in the conference and meetings industry, she said.
But Obama's visit was "above and beyond and bonus," she said.
"There's truly a lot of benefit for Anchorage going into the future," Saupe said. "It was a big effort."
Hutchinson also said that some direct costs to the city were offset by an estimated $1 million in economic activity in events associated with Obama's visit. Key among them: Obama was joined by about 1,200 people attending the Global Leadership in the Arctic conference. Each person at the international forum on climate change spent an average of about $974 in the city, he said.
City officials had put out earlier estimates for the extra costs of managing the GLACIER conference and the presidential visit, but final figures were released Thursday by Hutchinson after a request from Alaska Dispatch News.
In all, Anchorage paid $529,591 for police and fire overtime, traffic management and public works associated with the conference.
The Anchorage Police Department bore the bulk of the extra costs during Obama's visit, about $482,070. Overtime costs associated with extra patrols, managing security perimeters and travel support made up the bulk of the expenses, Hutchinson said. He said there were also training costs and some miscellaneous expenses for equipment like barricades and extra handcuffs.
Despite requests, the city has not been reimbursed by the federal government, Hutchinson said.