Maine's housing woes are holding back a robust tourism economy

Tourists are spending heavily in Maine, and companies that serve them want to expand. But there aren't enough affordable places for workers to live.

ROCKLAND, Maine — Noah Barnes can’t sell bunks aboard his schooner fast enough. The ones unoccupied by his staff, anyway.

Barnes, the owner and captain of the 153-year-old Stephen Taber, said demand for multiday voyages off Rockland has been “as good as the Clinton years.”

“Typically in election years and times of uncertainty, we see a little bit of a dip” as people hesitate to plan vacations, he said in late June as the turbulent presidential race ramped up. “We haven’t seen any of that.”

https://www.nbcnews.com/business/economy/maine-affordable-housing-costs-tourism-rcna160464

---