Thank you.
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 John Jarsh.
Chief Communications Officer for
Destination Door County.
John, thanks for joining us.
Good to be with you, thank you.
So I think it's fair to say that a
lot of people will associate Door
County with rest,
relaxation, putting all your worries
behind you.
I wonder what these staffing
shortages, how these Door
County tourism businesses are
feeling right now.
Yeah, we certainly had a few
challenges with some of the H2B
visas that 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, or you
suggested or said, the H-2B
visa.
The numbers of H-3B
workers that we've had in the last
couple of years pale in comparison
to the number of want 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
a J-one visa.
So that means they're here for only
a couple of months.
And Door County 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 H2 visa option,
H2V 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.
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?
Yeah that is that's correct and our
season has expanded here in the last
ten twenty years indoor county
really for up for a long time
it was memorial day to labor day
uh... But that is no longer the case
and so uh...
You know again uh...
The jay one visa this year were
probably going to be in the
neighborhood of about five hundred
and sixty of the summer work
travel students and
uh... Last year i think
we had uh...
Maybe 85 to 90
H2B.
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.
So why have they slowed down these
visas?
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 has
hit, and those are no longer
available. There's also a lottery
system that is in Bye!
And if you draw
a poor lottery number,
I don't know exactly how that system
works, but your chances of
getting an H2B 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 cook in later
this summer probably going into the
fall when those processes need to
start for the summer of 2027
already and 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.
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?
Yes, the short answer, and indoor
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.
All right, we'll leave it there.
Thanks so much for joining us.
My pleasure.
All right.
Thank you
Yeah, you're very welcome.
I'm sorry I didn't get a few more
expletives in my comments.
I'll have to work on that for next
time.
Good for the internet shorts.
I'm teasing, I'm teasing.
All right, thanks so much, you guys.
I appreciate it, enjoy the rest
of your day and have a good weekend.
All right, thanks, you too.