PIMA — During its most recent meeting, the Pima Town Council unanimously designated the Graham County Chamber of Commerce as the town’s Destination Management Organization.
Pima is the last community in the area to make the designation, following the City of Safford, Town of Thatcher and Graham County.
A DMO focuses on sustainable practices, ensuring that tourism growth does not come at the expense of natural resources or cultural heritage.
“We’re getting together representatives from hotels, restaurants and public lands to come in and create a plan on how we’re going to have hospitality for our visitors; how are we going to show off for people,” said Vance Bryce, Chamber executive director.
The Arizona Office of Tourism, and the Southern Arizona Sports, Tourism, and Film Authority, rely on the designation to decide where to invest grant money. And Arizona Office of Tourism allows DMOs to apply for the Rural Co-op Program, where AOT picks up 50 percent of tourism marketing costs.
The Chamber has a $20,000 budget for marketing the area to tourists and one of the first actions by the Chamber and its Tourism Committee is to promote Mount Graham as a destination for mountain biking. It has contracted with Brice Shirbac, a mountain bike influencer and filmmaker, to promote the area and the Mount Graham trails known as the Graham Cracker.
Editor’s note: Reporter David Bell is chair of the chamber’s Tourism Committee.
