With Memorial Day s unofficial start to the summer tourism season still more than three weeks away, Cape Cod is already starting to welcome visitors and seasonal residents, though workforce challenges lay ahead, Sen. Julian Cyr said Thursday.
Cyr, on a call with other members of Cape Cod s COVID-19 response task force, voiced confidence that the Cape will be a safe place to visit this summer. While a year ago many were wondering how big a hit the region s tourist economy would take, Cyr said the region s workforce shortage now has reached a crisis level.
He encouraged potential tourists to be patient and tap into that kindness that was so evident at the beginning of the pandemic, cautioning that a limited number of workers means it may take a little more time to get that ice cream cone, a little more time to get that fish sandwich. With pandemic restrictions gradually easing, some businesses have reported difficulty staffing back up as they reopen, and a shortage of restauran
Job search: Cape Cod businesses in desperate need of seasonal workers
Updated May 06, 2021;
By Katie Lannan | State House News Service
With Memorial Day’s unofficial start to the summer tourism season still more than three weeks away, Cape Cod is already starting to welcome visitors and seasonal residents, though workforce challenges lay ahead, Sen. Julian Cyr said Thursday.
Cyr, on a call with other members of Cape Cod’s COVID-19 response task force, voiced confidence that the Cape will be a safe place to visit this summer. While a year ago many were wondering how big a hit the region’s tourist economy would take, Cyr said the region’s workforce shortage now “has reached a crisis level.”
And as you get ready to travel,
you’re gonna find that some bars, restaurants, and hotels are having a hard finding workers..Tourists are not the only summer visitors, though. Businesses typically hire between 15 and 20,000 extra workers to keep up with the summer demand. But this year,
finding enough staff is becoming a real problem.
The reporter found that local restaurant owner David Colombo “needs to find about 40 more workers” before the beginning of the busy summer season. Turning to Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce CEO Wendy Northcross, Begnaud noted that
“There are several barriers causing the worker shortage.” Northcross specifically pointed to extended government unemployment checks:
On Cape Cod in Massachusetts, they’re expecting a record-breaking summer season as tourists freed from pandemic restrictions look to have some fun.
But across the Atlantic, in Rome, Gini Ansuini, who owns a 480-year-old deli, cannot tell how long it will take to get over the 80% falloff in business that he has suffered.
Why We Wrote This
As they begin to emerge from the pandemic, Europe and the U.S. find themselves in different places with different priorities that reflect their values and histories.
As America’s economy sets growth records, Europe has slipped into its second pandemic recession. But there are lessons for governments on both sides of the ocean.
Help Wanted signs greet visitors to grocery stores, retail shops and restaurants from the Bourne and Sagamore bridges all the way to Provincetown.
Restaurants can’t find enough cooks and servers. Hotels and motels can’t find enough front desk clerks and cleaners. Landscapers can’t find the men and women they need to cut grass, rake leaves and tend to gardens.
And as the summer season fast approaches, the situation has only grown more concerning for business owners.
Rod Sroczenski, the general manager of the Bayside Resort Hotel in West Yarmouth. said the hotel and restaurant owners and landscapers he knows are all in the same boat.