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V O L . X X X I N O. X X V I I I D E C E M B E R 1 5 , 2 0 2 5 16 M I D C O A S T / D OW N E A S T F O C U S One of those is the Bar Harbor Whale Watch Co. "Traditionally, we do a lot of tours especially for cruise ship passen- gers," says Salvatore. "ose weren't happening." Still, decent weather and an uptick in visitors arriving by land resulted in normal operations. e company's tender operation saw a much bigger hit. "We design and build vessels for cruise ship tendering," says Salvatore. "Without the ships, we didn't need to get them in the water. With fewer boats, we hired fewer captains, fewer deckhands, fewer dock workers. Fewer people get hired, they get fewer hours, less income comes in the door, it ripples around to everybody." He adds, "Long-term, certain things just won't exist if things don't change." Flight disruptions "ere was much pessimism headed into this year, and while I think meaningful challenges do remain both locally and in terms of the broader economy, I think the full extent of that pessimism did not come to pass," says Stephen Coston, owner or co-owner of 12 hotels in Bar Harbor and one in Camden under the Stay Bar Harbor Hotel Group umbrella. It was a generally positive year for his company, with July and September being the best months relative to 2024. But glitches arrived. "October was off to a very strong start but cooled off after the holiday weekend due to a brief stretch of iffy weather as well as travel impacts resulting from the government shutdown," he continues. "Flight disruptions resulted in higher-than- usual cancelations over the back half of the month." A stretch of particularly cold and rainy weather hampered busi- ness significantly throughout the spring, particularly in April and May, he notes. "One thing about Bar Harbor is, if the forecast shows it's 50 degrees and raining for a week straight, nobody's going to come — and that's that," Coston says. e weather shifted favorably about mid-June. Tariffs presented a bit of a chal- lenge on the cost side, resulting in higher prices for many of the goods his company uses and provides. Coston continues, "e loss of most of the cruise ship visitation to town cer- tainly had a substantial negative impact on a number of local businesses, and issues like inflation, tariffs, housing, etc. persist. But I can say that, at least for our business, it was generally a positive year." Positive feedback "We did not feel any impact from hav- ing fewer cruise ships but, based on our guests' feedback, their experience was improved due to far less conges- tion in town and not having to wait an hour to get lunch on those days of the large cruise ships," says David Witham, owner of Witham Family Hotels, with seven hotels in Bar Harbor, one in Ellsworth and one under construction in Ellsworth. "When you remove cruise ships, it feels quieter," adds Jeremy Dougherty, the group's managing director. "e town's still full. It's just not overflowing. Overall, the season showed modest growth, though the shoulder seasons were softer than usual. "e wet spring weather seemed to play a role in this," says Witham. "e luxury market remains strong, but the more price sensitive markets were not as strong during these shoulder seasons." Eric Marichal, the group's director of strategic operations, says, overall for the company, demand is growing in the shoulder months of May and June. "We continued to see, particularly post-covid and incrementally every year, is our May and June season pushing out," says Marichal. "June is pretty much entering what we consider peak season » C O N T I N U E D F RO M P R E V I O U S PA G E Acadia visits F or 2025, Acadia is on track to exceed 4 million visits, with 3.99 million logged through October, a 3.3% increase from 3.87 million through October 2024. The tally reflects visits, not visi- tors. One individual might enter the park multiple times. "I don't think the island was actu- ally meaningfully more busy or less busy than past years," says hotelier Stephen Coston. P H O T O / C O U R T E S Y S TAY B A R H A R BO R H O T E L G RO U P Stephen Coston of Stay Bar Harbor Hotel Group sees challenges locally and in the broader economy, but not to the extent feared. P H O T O / L A U R I E S C H R E I B E R For David Witham of Witham Family Hotels, the season for his business showed modest growth, though the shoulder seasons were softer than usual.

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