Maine tourism businesses facing labor shortage crisis as summer 2018 approaches
By
David
21 February 2018 (Edited )
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Seacoast Online
By
David
21 February 2018 (Edited )
Share This Article
Seacoast Online
David H. Boggs
President/CEO
ACRO Global
Publisher
TourismMarketer
ACRO Global
Publisher
TourismMarketer
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Here's the problem, as concisely and correctly stated by Greg DUGAL of the Maine Innkeepers Association:
"“There are 1,000 people in Ogunquit and there are 2,200 hotel rooms and over 5,000 restaurant seats. If every man woman and child in York County wanted to work around the clock it wouldn’t even come close to filling the jobs."
Low unemployment in Maine - 3.0% statewide (seasonally adjusted) in December 2017, 2.4% in Portland - contributes to the problem.
Under the current visa system, 4600 employers US-wide are chasing a maximum of 33,000 H2B visa holders for summer 2018.
The US tourism industry needs more temporary foreign workers. Is anyone in Washington listening?