Here & Now

Shawn Johnson:
Wisconsin hit record breaking tourism numbers for 2025. According to a new report, it was the fourth year in a row that it broke the previous high. But a tourism boom is often accompanied by workforce challenges, with many areas relying on seasonal workers visiting with temporary visas. So far this year, Wisconsin has received a fraction of the short-term workers with an H-2B visa that it has in the past. To see how the industry is faring this year, we turn to Jon Jarosh, chief communications officer for Destination Door County. Jon, thanks for joining us.

Jon Jarosh:
Yeah, good to be with you. Thank you.

Shawn Johnson:
So I think it’s fair to say that a lot of people will associate Door County with rest and relaxation, you know, putting all your worries behind you. I wonder with these staffing shortages, how these Door County tourism businesses are feeling right now?

Jon Jarosh:
Yeah, we certainly had a few challenges with some of the H-2B visas that our work — our workers and our employers have been trying to get, because we really ramp up in the summertime. As a lot of viewers may know, it takes a lot more workers than we have that live here to be able to operate our businesses and to maintain a level of service that I think most people have come to expect when they visit Door County. And so our business owners have had to go to alternative methods to find enough workers to fill those needs. And the primary one that we use here is the summer work travel program, or a J-1 visa. That’s a fairly common one. That program’s been around for a long, long time. And a more recent one that is used is what you had read or you suggested or said the H-2B visa. The numbers of H-2B workers that we’ve had in the last couple of years pale in comparison to the number of J-1 visas that are here in Door County. And so — but nevertheless, the H-2B visa is an important one for some of our businesses because those folks can stay longer. They’re not students, unlike the J-1 students that are here. They have to be a student in order to qualify for J-1 visa. So that means they’re here for only a couple of months. And Door County’s season now is a good, you know, five, six months long at that — really that peak season. And so some of our businesses have turned to the H-2 visa option — H-2B visa option because they can stay longer and they can stay through the entire season to make sure that they’re being covered and we have enough workforce through the fall season in October into November.

Shawn Johnson:
Okay. So there are other parts of the state, maybe where the season is shorter and those shorter visas work, but the H-2B visas are more critical in Door County because it has a longer season. Is that right?

Jon Jarosh:
Yeah, that’s correct. And our season has expanded here in the last 10, 20 years in Door County. It really — for a long time, it was Memorial Day to Labor Day but that is no longer the case. And so, you know, again, the J-1 visas this year, we’re probably going to be in the neighborhood of about 560 of the summer work travel students. And last year, I think we had maybe 85 to 90 H-2B visa workers that were in the county. So again, much smaller numbers. But increasingly, businesses have looked to that as an alternative to make sure that they have coverage longer in the season instead of that three months that those, you know, collegiate students that are here on the J-1 visa can stay.

Shawn Johnson:
So why have they slowed down these visas?

Jon Jarosh:
There’s a couple of reasons. Certainly we’re unsure exactly why. I know there’s been some challenges with some of the consulates. There is actually a cap on the H-2B visa. And so when that cap is reached, a lot of times businesses that may have put in a request for some H-2B visa holders to come and work, they just, you know, the cap is hit and those are no longer available. There’s also a lottery system that is in play. And if you draw a poor lottery number, I don’t know exactly how that system works, but your chances of getting an H-2B worker are really slim, if not none. And so again, it’s a much smaller percentage of our workforce here. It’s relatively new. And so what we’re learning this year is really what the needs of our constituents are, our employers, the businesses that have relied on them. So we can use that as — to help better advocate here in the next year moving forward. The process to get either a J-1 visa student or an H-2B is quite lengthy. It takes a long time, and so it’s not something that you can just do over the course of a week or two. And so we’ll start to plan and our advocacy efforts will kick in later this summer, probably going into the fall when those processes need to start for the summer of 2027 already. So, you know, we’re learning and we’re certainly going to be reaching out. It’s a federal issue since those visas are at a federal level, not at a state level. And I’m sure we will talk amongst our tourism industry peers across the state of Wisconsin to figure out how we can better work together to advocate for the needs of our tourism industry from an employee standpoint, in particular with these visas.

Shawn Johnson:
So real quick, as we wrap up here with a lot of travelers staying closer to home due to high gas prices, can local destinations like yours handle another record-breaking year?

Jon Jarosh:
Yes. The short answer in Door County, I’m very confident that we can. We are — because of our seasonal nature — we are comprised of entrepreneurs up and down this peninsula and on Washington Island, and they always figure out a way to make it work one way or another. You know, they may have to reduce hours a little bit to accommodate maybe a reduced workforce to some extent. But rest assured, people can expect the same great service that they have or that they’re used to when they come to Door County. And it is shaping up, I think, to be another great summer. Door County is a great place, really close to home, and yet it feels like you’re a world away when you’re here. And we’re anticipating another good year here in Door County and look forward to welcoming everyone.

Shawn Johnson:
All right, we’ll leave it there. Thanks so much for joining us.

Jon Jarosh:
My pleasure.