WELLS, Maine — Maine businesses are in the home stretch before the busy tourism season ramps back up again. While millions of visitors are expected to come to Maine this year, there are still challenges to overcome.
The Maine Tourism Association (MTA) sent a survey to member businesses ahead of the summer to gauge how staffing shortages will impact restaurants, stores, and shops.
Only 29 percent of member businesses that responded to the survey said they would have sufficient staff for the tourism season. Nine percent said they will have less than half the staff they need.
"This was a problem pre-pandemic, and so the pandemic obviously amplified the situation," MTA Chief Executive Officer Tony Cameron said Wednesday.
The survey also asked businesses about who will struggle to fill positions and what businesses believe the cause of the shortages is. Forty-five percent said general workforce shortages were the main reason, and 26 percent said the reason was because employees could not find affordable housing.
"There’s nowhere for workers to live," Jim MacNeill said.
MacNeill has owned the Maine Diner in Wells for five years. He said last summer he was down 35 employees. To address that need for this season, MacNeill bought the Coast Village Inn & Cottages in town.
"This property happened to have cabins that I can utilize for workers and then I could rent out the regular rooms at the daily rates," he explained.
MacNeill said that the move is already having an impact on his businesses as he now has employees living right on his property for significantly cheaper rent than they would find nearby.
Despite being new to the lodging industry, MacNeill has been working in restaurants for decades and has learned how valuable it is to treat your employees fairly and with respect.
"Showing loyalty to the employee [and] then gaining that loyalty back from the employee is paramount to anyone's success," he added.
Despite staffing challenges across Maine, Cameron still expects a solid tourism year. Last year, according to state data, more than 15 million visitors came to Vacationland.
"We’re seeing that travel demand is still high, people want to take their vacations so we’re optimistic that we’ll have a good year," he added.
Cameron also said he knows tourists come to Maine for unique experiences and hospitality workers are the ones tasked to give it to them.
In the future, Cameron said his office is working on campaigns to get more high school and college students, along with retirees back into the workforce.