Chamber reports childcare RFP, tourism spending up and new website launch

Ben, representing the Chamber Collaborative, told the commission that the Chamber received grant funding and issued an RFP to hire a consultant to turn prior childcare working-group findings into actionable next steps; proposals are due Sept. 18.

Ben also shared Placer-software tourism metrics showing year-over-year visitor spending up 8.3, at $63,200,000 for the period noted, and monthly visitors and trip numbers modestly higher. "We're really, thrilled to see those numbers," Ben said. He said staff will use the data to refine marketing and targeting for upcoming promotions such as restaurant week.

Ben previewed a redesigned goportsmouthnh.com site due to launch by the end of the month with calendar aggregation and integrated online booking to help visitors find events, restaurants and lodging in one place. He said the Chamber will continue to build the site’s back-end data to support analytics for tourism planning.