seasonal business owners say they're heading into the summer with a lot of uncertainty between tariffs inflation and rapidly changing economic policies at the federal level Factors that have historically caused vacationers to take a wait and see approach before booking a getaway So what does it mean for tourism this year and the businesses that benefit from it Ted Goldberg reports When it comes to predicting how the summer season will be for shore businesses experts are split on how optimistic they feel I think that the general uh sense is that uh we're probably in for a a reasonably good uh summer shore season Again there's a lot of uncertainty out there People are holding back right now in in booking their family vacations Between tariffs and fewer Canadians visiting the US not everyone is bullish on a big summer down the shore If Newark airport continues having problems Stockton economics professor Oliver Cook says that could attract more people to the beach We've seen very high gas prices right In previous summers people oftentimes end up kind of substituting local vacations you know something at the shore as opposed to you know flying This year I think it's a little bit more um you know kind of ambiguous Uh air prices are already kind of down Uh we've even had some you know indication that some airlines are already kind of starting to struggle Prices are starting to come down I can hope cuz then they'll drive down to us instead of fly other places but I would assume that that's going to impact some things Ashley Manona has managed Jersey Roll and Lobster Lounge for 2 years in Seaside Heights Something different every day Um and my ADHD brain likes the change up Um so it works really well for me Always having a different challenge She's hopeful for a big summer and still hiring Whether the help comes locally or overseas from the J1 visa program that's being threatened by federal budget cuts Not being picky about where they come from We want good people though Like we're we're being picky about who we're hiring but we'll take it from anywhere We haven't heard anything in terms of visa problems uh this year Um you know it does look like potentially given the current proposed federal budget and in particular cuts at the state department that you know maybe in the future perhaps next summer this might become a bigger issue There is still demand I mean I actually have a lot of resumes that were sent to me and I actually had to say we don't have any more positions for you because we had an influx of people trying to apply So I actually had to say we already hired all we needed Maria Saltzman is the marketing director for Casino Pier in Brewwater Beach in Seaside a burrow that's gotten off to a bumpy start This past weekend more than 70 people were arrested and three people were stabbed Memorial Day weekend is is just a lot of juveniles that come unfortunately but it doesn't represent what happens the rest of the summer She says the biggest factor for the rest of the summer isn't trade wars or immigration concerns It's the weather As the spring showed if the weather is good we have a lot of influx of guests And that's what we just hope for If we have a nice summer sunny summer season then I think we're going to have an excellent season If it's sunny they show We're selling fruit in the sun It's an it's it's a layup Kenny McAvern is the co-owner of Pliables on the Boardwalk It rained a lot last week It's going to rain tomorrow and the next day Hopefully that fills the reservoirs and then we get a drought until October 1st That's what I'm hoping for we get that the people show up He says the iPhone weather app can be a major obstacle and it sometimes scares away customers who don't want to brave bad weather for a smoothie If it's going to rain for uh 5 minutes at 9 in the morning on Thursday they put a whole rain cloud on the icon for the whole day So when somebody on Monday is looking at Thursday's weather and they say "Oh it's going to rain at seaside Let's not go."

and they don't come down in the Wildwoods They're adapting to life with fewer Canadians For 25 years Kate May County maintained a tourism office in Montreal And at one point 10 to 12% of visitors to the Wildwoods were our neighbors to the north That's according to Ben Rose director of marketing and PR for the Greater Wildwoods Tourism Authority He says they've pivoted over the last couple of years with ads in Spanish Latino families uh is the fastest growing uh uh segment of our population They're about 17 to 19% of the total population and growing and that should make up for the shortfall in Canadian visitors The Wildwoods expect a record number of visitors despite all the uncertainties around travel and the economy this summer on the Jersey Shore I'm Ted Goldberg NJ Spotlight News [Music]