Troy White said he hoped his misspelt www.portstevens.com.au website would amuse locals but the web designer has copped criticism and complaints since he relaunched the site this week.

One angry restaurateur called Mr White yesterday to demand that details of his business be removed, and users of the website Twitter have joked about the misspelling.

The board of the correctly spelt Port Stephens Tourism also plans to meet to discuss the site.

Mr White said the site, which is an affiliate of accommodation booking website Roam Free, was providing a community service and would benefit the region by helping to bring in tourist dollars.

"I know how to spell it," Mr White said.

"We did some research into the number of people who spell Port Stephens that way."

On his personal website, Mr White claims that an increasing number of people in Sydney and Melbourne are misspelling the name of the region.

But Port Stephens Tourism marketing manager Tars Bylhouwer disputed that claim yesterday.

He described the misspelt site as "ambush marketing".

Mr Bylhouwer said of almost 9000 people who were directed to the official Port Stephens Tourism website after searching on Google, less than 3 per cent had spelt the name of the region wrongly.

Mr Bylhouwer also raised concern that businesses did not know they were being advertised on Mr White's site.

Mr White said he did not realistically think his site would compete with the official www.portstephens.com.au visitors site.

"I hope locals will look on [my site] with a bit of amusement," Mr White said.