Jun 06, 2022 —
Tourism leaders across the North Country expect this summer to be a busy one, with Canadian tourists returning after a two-year hiatus, joined by newer-to-the-region visitors, who found the North Country during the pandemic.
While the Thousand Islands area fared surprisingly well during the pandemic, it’s also struggling with workforce, housing, and supply chain issues, like many North Country travel destinations.
Upper James Street Dock in downtown Alexandria Bay. Photo: Amy Feiereisel
The COVID-19 years
The Uncle Sam Boat Tour docks in Alexandria Bay have been busy lately. Full boats leave several times a day to cruise the St. Lawrence River and visit popular attractions like Boldt Castle.
Nate Sourwine is the manager of operations for Uncle Sam Boat Tours. He said on Memorial Day they had to add an extra tour to get everyone out on the water. “Compared to what we saw in the COVID years, we got a lot more demand. So it’s been good so far this year.”
Uncle Sam Boat Tours boat leaving dock in downtown Alexandria Bay. Photo: Amy Feiereisel
But Sourwine also noted the last two years weren’t all that bad. He says the Thousand Islands found a whole new market. “Actually, COVID brought a lot of new people to the area that we hadn’t seen before. This became a new vacation spot for them. And we had a lot of people come here actually buy houses and summer homes.”
According to Corey Fram, from the Thousand Islands International Tourism Council, the 2020 tourism season was down by about 30% from 2019. But last summer it was actually up 20% from 2019. Leisure communities like Clayton and Alexandria Bay were especially hopping.
Workforce shortages continue to be an issue
But even as visitors flocked to the region, businesses struggled. One of the biggest issues has been workforce shortage, says Corey Fram, from the Thousand Islands International Tourism Council. He says even though business was way up in Jefferson County in 2021, the total number of people working in service was down. And he expects the workforce crunch to continue this summer.
“There are not as many people looking for jobs as there are jobs available. And we know that our businesses are not going to be able to fill them as they had in the past.”
Fram says there are reasons for that. It’s not just that people don’t want to work. It’s that there are barriers to them returning. “Childcare, housing, transportation, all of this is a challenge to the leisure and hospitality employment sector.”
During the pandemic, the North Country lost child care capacity, while home prices and rents shot up. For a myriad of reasons, there’s a smaller pool of workers, serving a growing number of visitors. Fram says the workforce shortage concerns him and everyone in local tourism, because, “you expect to be treated well, and you expect to have high service when you go on vacation. And so that’s a concern for the travel industry.”
Good service may be the goal, but Debra Butterfield, who owns the cheerful, 32-room Otter Creek Inn in Alexandria Bay, says she’s struggled to find workers at all. “I’ve got an ad on Craigslist, I had an ad in the TI Sun for eight weeks. Nothing, no response. It’s so discouraging for people with small businesses in New York State.”
The rise of STRs and the affordable housing crunch
Debra Butterfield owns the Otter Creek Inn with her husband in Alexandria Bay. Photo: Amy Feiereisel
Butterfield and her husband operate the inn. It’s their 19th season open. She said they can’t find housekeepers, and that means they’re trying to do everything themselves. “We’re doing a lot more work. Both my husband and I am. I’m tired. I don’t normally look this tired. I’m serious. I am wore out.”
She says she loves the Thousand Islands region, and operating a place that families and visitors return to year after year. She’s hopeful about this summer, because water levels on the St. Lawrence River are good, and Canadian tourists can return.
But she says the last two years have been hard. She hasn’t seen the big influx of new visitors here at the inn. She says it’s because they’re competing with a growing number of short-term rentals on platforms like AirBnB and VRBO.
“I have an issue with those because they are not required to get the department of health inspections and they’re not paying room tax. That is not fair. And it’s causing locals that want to buy houses an issue. They can’t afford them now.”
Corey Fram, from the Tourism Council, has the numbers to back up that hunch of Butterfield’s about the rise of STRs. In just one year between April 2021 and April 2022, short-term rentals in Jefferson County increased by 30%.
Fram says while currently there are no regulations in place around short-term rentals in Jefferson County, a lot of conversations about making some have been cropping up. ” I do think it’s [regulations are] coming because I think there’s starting to become a recognition of it. And so that [affordable housing avilability] is starting to put a squeeze on the industry and stress what is already a very stressed workforce.”
For workers, especially seasonal ones, it boils down to this: if you can’t afford to live in an area, it’s certainly going to be hard to work there.
Raising wages and housing competition
One business that hasn’t struggled to find employees is Nav’s Popcorn, located just off the main strip in Alexandria Bay. Nav’s Popcorn sells one thing: 30 flavors of popcorn. There’s a big wooden boat in the middle of the store filled with bags of it.
Cheryl and Jim Navarra are the owners. Cheryl says 2020 and 2021 were record-breaking years for them, reflecting that increase in visitors. “Both years, both summers, our numbers grew exponentially.”
They employ 11 people at the store, and they haven’t struggled with finding workers, but the couple credits that to the fact that they mostly employ teenagers. “We’ve been fortunate to get what we call river rats, kids who come to their cottage.”
Jim and Cheryl Navarra inside their store, Nav’s Popcorn, in downtown Alexandria Bay. Photo: Amy Feiereisel
The Navarras also recognize this is a competitive labor market. They offer cash bonuses and flexible time off. The NYS minimum wage is $13.20 right now. The Navarras pay between $15 and $17 dollars an hour.
They’re doing well, but they’re also feeling the inflation and supply chain and wage crunch. “We have not raised our prices in three years. We did not raise them during the pandemic. But this year, we have been forced to raise them because of our shipping costs and our product costs and our payroll.”
They also know something about the need for affordable housing for seasonal workers. Above the store are two apartments that the Navarras rent to seasonal employees of other businesses. They’ve been in hot demand these last two summers. “We have a waiting list of people who want to rent it!” said Cheryl.
Finding solutions for the Thousand Islands
Corey Fram, from the Tourism Council, says he thinks there are solutions to the worker and housing shortages, if the energy and investment is put towards addressing them. He says investments into child care capacity (which Jefferson and Lewis are investing in) will be critical. He also believes recognition of service industry work as important would help attract new workers.
And affordable housing is top of Fram’s list. Luckily, says Fram, this area knows how to build lots of housing fast. “We’ve had housing crunches before particular related to the Fort Drum military installation, ensuring that we have proper housing for our brave men and women that serve in the army and support the army. We’re kind of just on the precipice in my mind, of having to address housing for the leisure and hospitality sector as well.”
Fram says with 11% of the jobs in Jefferson County in tourism, it’s something they can’t afford not to figure out.
