For tourists, Phoenix and Tucson are Arizona’s identity and serve as a base for expeditions into the history and legend of the Grand Canyon State. But Ilona Somerekanich, director of the city of Bisbee’s Visitor’s Center, has a different view.

She points out that Southeastern Arizona was the state’s first economic hub and Bisbee, propelled by its lucrative copper mining industry, was Arizona’s original destination for entrepreneurs and tourists.

“I might be embellishing a bit,” Somerekanich said. “But I maintain Tucson and Phoenix are here because of Bisbee.”

She’s paid to take such an attitude.

Somerekanich is a Bisbee city employee who, from her office in the back of the Bisbee Visitor’s Center, designs marketing strategies to lure tourists to town as their base for Arizona vacationing. Inspired by her success, the Tombstone city council recently began examining if the town could benefit by following the Bisbee model.

“I have a lot of respect for the Tombstone officials and the Chamber of Commerce,” she said. “The only thing I would say is if you have a mission in place, do not reinvent the wheel. Ultimately, you have to work together. ”

The city of Bisbee took over tourism promotion when a 2004 voter-approved ordinance removed the responsibility from the Chamber of Commerce. Somerekanich left her position as chamber’s director, and took the full-time job as director of the visitor’s center.

“I (still) work hand in hand with the chamber because some issues overlap,” she said. “Whereas the chamber represents all types of business, the visitors center’s mission is to promote tourism both present and future.”

Akin to the old Bisbee model, the Tombstone Chamber of Commerce is responsible for operating the visitor’s center and promoting tourism. It has not hired a permanent replacement for former Executive Director Pat Greene, who resigned in January. President Susan Wallace said the chamber board presented a new marketing strategy to the city three weeks ago.

“We believe the chamber is the marketing arm of the community, especially one like ours,” she said. “We have a great board.  We’ve put in hundreds of volunteer hours (to develop the marketing strategy.)”

The city of Bisbee rents space for the visitor’s center in the downtown convention center, which is recognized by the Arizona Office of Tourism as a “model center.” Somerekanich said it operates on a budget slightly more than $130,000. Monies from the city’s 2.5 percent Transient Room Tax (bed tax) finance it. The center also receives funds from the Queen Mine Tour, which shares revenue up to $16,000 a year.

Somerekanich said a staff of eight volunteers is responsible for maintaining the www.discoverbisbee.com website, social media accounts, brochure inventory, scheduling and mailings. Last year, the center had a $40,000 budget shortfall and a paid employee was laid off. As a result, Somerekanich said, “there has been unofficial talk of raising the bed tax.”

“On a day-to-day basis, we are the front line with information for our tourists,” she said. “We have to remember our ultimate goal is to get folks to our cities.”

The city of Tombstone’s contract with the chamber expired at the end of June. Under the old contract, the city gave approximately $4,500 a month in bed tax money to the chamber so it could fund city promotion. The chamber continues to receive promotion funds from its operation of the Boot Hill Cemetery gift shop, whose profits have steadily increased since it took control. Although, Councilman Steve Troncale said that due to a previous lack of marketing strategies and the almost annual turnover of the chamber’s administration, the city is considering whether Tombstone could benefit from hiring someone like Somerekanich to promote tourism.

“It all revolves around getting a good manager,” he said.

Somerekanich grew up in Wabash, Ind., and admits she never heard of Bisbee before visiting. Drawn by the West’s “pristineness” and weather, she moved to Bisbee in 1998 and began her love affair with the town. Her passion for her job is evident in her dedication. In addition to developing marketing strategies and overseeing operation of the visitor’s center, she serves on more than a dozen tourism councils, logs countless hours of off the clock research, courts travel writers and filmmakers.

Undeniably, she is a Bisbee convert.

“I think about the tourist coming the through the tunnel (into Bisbee,)” she said. “Here’s this architectural diversified mining town… Folks you will not believe what we have in this county.”