Cochise County    visitor statistics: • In 2001, Cochise County had 730,000 visitors. • 95 percent of visitors to Cochise County are from the United States; 23.9 percent are from Tucson and 18.3 percent from Phoenix. • Visitors produced $120 million in direct and indirect spending. • Visitor spending resulted in 4,217 jobs in Cochise County. • Most - 85 percent - visit the county on vacation. The rest travel there on business. • The most important attractions to visitors are the Old West, cultural and historic sites, national and state parks, ghost towns and mining history, and birding and wildlife preserves. Source: Northern Arizona University 2001 Cochise County Visitor Study      To learn more: Find out more about Cochise County at www.explorecochise.com, or call (800) 862-5273.

Cochise County and five of its largest towns have teamed up to create a marketing plan designed to lure Arizonans - and particularly Tucsonans - to that corner of the state.

Almost 24 percent of the county's 730,000 visitors last year were from Tucson, and two-thirds of all visitors arrived there by car. Therefore, a large component of its strategy, which was developed by a Tucson marketing firm, is colorful billboards going up this month along Tucson roadways. Two billboards are already in place - one on Palo Verde Road at Ajo Way and the other on Speedway near Alvernon Way.

"Because of Sept. 11, people have been planning to stay closer to home and take short trips, and we didn't know that would be a trend but it looks like we're right on the cutting edge for people taking shorter trips," said Donna Harris, chairwoman of the Cochise County Tourism Council, which received a grant from the Arizona Office of Tourism to pay for part of the new marketing campaign.

While domestic and international travel spending dropped 5.8 percent last year and is expected to decline further in 2002, leisure travel is already up 2 percent in the first half of 2002. Trips close to home have also risen by 8 percent, according to the Travel Industry Association of America. 

Cochise County encompasses Bisbee, Sierra Vista, Willcox, Benson, Douglas and Tombstone as well as Fort Huachuca and a handful of smaller towns.

The tourism industry is big business there: Visitors spent $79.2 million last year and spurred another $40.8 million in indirect and induced spending.

By comparison, visitors to Pima County were responsible for $1.8 billion in direct, indirect and induced sales in 1998-99, the latest year for which figures are available.

In Cochise County, leisure travelers represented 85 percent of visitors in 2001 and spent more money than business travelers - $115 per person per day versus $91.50.

Those statistics, from a Northern Arizona University study, helped shape the county's plan, which was created by the Tucson firm of Michael Bolchalk Marketing, Advertising and Public Relations.

Two other parts of the campaign are a new Web site, www.explorecochise.com, and a visitor's guide called Land of Legends - available at airports and chambers of commerce, in the 50,000-circulation AZ Living magazine, on the Web site and by calling a toll-free number.

"We think this could be a model for rural, regional tourism," said Michael Bolchalk, head of the marketing firm.

The county will measure the marketing efforts' impact by bed taxes, visitor counts, the number of Web site hits, the number of overnight hotel stays and anecdotal evidence.

Rather than siphoning visitors from Tucson, Cochise County's marketing efforts would more likely cause visitors to stay longer in Tucson or return to the area, said Jonathan Walker, president and CEO of the Metropolitan Tucson Convention and Visitors Bureau.

"I think it encourages them to come back and visit more of the Southern Arizona area, and any time that happens it's good for Tucson," he said.

The Cochise County Tourism Council has been in existence for about 20 years, said chairwoman Harris, but this is the first time the cities have joined together to hire a marketing firm. The two-year project came out of a $270,000 budget.

Communities in neighboring Santa Cruz County, which borders both Pima and Cochise counties, are also working together to foster the idea of a regional destination.

"We encourage communities, especially rural communities, to join forces," said Karin Valentine, director of tourism development for the Arizona Office of Tourism, which recently won an award from the Travel Industry Association of America for its efforts at teaching communities how to work together.

The association recently surveyed its 2,500 members and found that about half were involved in more partnerships, said spokeswoman Cathy Keefe.

"That's what the future is - it's going to be partnerships on a local, regional and national level," Keefe said. "It makes sense to band together, pool your resources and make more of a splash."