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Tourism director reports modest traffic gains, flags bot-driven spam on guide orders
Summary
The Director reported February metrics showing modest website and active-user growth but said organic guide requests fell after automated spam began filling forms; staff implemented a more secure submission form and will monitor results. Q2 hotel tax receipts were reported at $1,014,006.73.
The Director presented the tourism offices monthly report, saying overall visitation indicators were mixed: February traffic was roughly even with last year (around 380 visits reported for a particular measure), website sessions were up about 6% for the month and active users were up about 10%, while organic guide requests were down about 28%.
The Director said the drop in organic requests is largely explained by a high volume of automated spam: "We're getting a ton of spam traffic from China, and this has been happening since January... it's filling out our guide orders and email sign ups," he said, adding that staff increased site security and switched to a new form with additional anti-bot verification.
The Director also reported a bed-tax update: after some late hotel payments, Q2 hotel-tax receipts were $1,014,006.73, up about 3.3% year over year; combined Q2 receipts for hotels and vacation rentals were described in the presentation as roughly $1.3 million (up about 1.8% year over year). Staff said they will continue monitoring web traffic and adjust security settings to reduce spam while preserving legitimate leads.
Staff also previewed upcoming promotions and events: Seaside Jazz & Blues in April (PDX Monthly requested photos), a whiskey-and-wine walk weekend in May, and possible return of the ghost conference. No formal policy actions were taken on the metrics report; staff will continue to refine web security and report on whether the new form reduces spam.
"We took the security off for that period where we're getting that initial thing... But now we've switched to a new form called grama form. We're gonna have a little more security, and we should hopefully be able to... see if things will be better on the next report," the Director said.
