November 2025 Update

Hello Bisbee! There is a lot happening with Bisbee Forward and we're optimistic about the coming months. Let's dig in.

First, an update on the economic condition: Unfortunately, the downturn we highlighted to the city back in August has continued to gain traction, with Lodging down in September by 32.8% from the same period in 2024. This brings the year to date comparison to a negative 15.8% from 2024. Likewise, we saw declines in Bar/Restaurants and non-grocery retailers - this is exactly the challenge we identified when we announced Bisbee Forward to the community. Link here: https://cochiseeconomy.com/regional-economic-news/f/cochise-county-september-sales-down-across-major-industries

The data is clear, and reinforces the need to get moving now to turn the tide to get Bisbee moving back toward stability. So what are we doing now to help?

First, Bisbee Forward has been very busy doing our best to get a broad perspective on the challenges we are facing, and ideas of how to improve our situation. We've met with the Arizona office of Tourism (AOT) multiple times, gaining insights and listening to their recommendations. We've met with many city Tourism departments & external Destination Marketing Organizations to learn about their approaches and best practices. We've interviewed multiple marketing agencies to get a sense for how they might help Bisbee better communicate our value as a destination. The marketing team doing these interviews is made up of nine of our business owners with relevant business expertise.

In the past month, the city of Bisbee has asked Bisbee Forward to reach beyond our original proposal (to provide oversight and recommendations for the city to execute a more effective tourism marketing campaign), with Bisbee Forward taking responsibility as the full-fledged Destination Marketing Organization for Bisbee. As a 501(c)(6) non profit, we are able to do this work on behalf of the city. This would require us to build an organization to operate and execute strategy, in concert with the city council, instead of merely providing guidance. It's a big step that our volunteer members would have to shoulder, in addition to their day jobs of trying to run a business while the economic storm blows around them. We're grateful to report we have terrific members willing to step up for the entire community.

We've responded to the city's proposed agreement with some minor but important requested changes. Here is a summation of what we have communicated with the city:

Our objectives to improve marketing remain simple:

1. Attract overnight visitors to stay

2. Increasing visitation during slow seasons

3. Increase sales tax collections

4. Encourage healthy and open debate on how to positively invest limited Bad Taxes to achieve the preceding

Our major issues to be resolved include:

• Initial funding: Committing to work on behalf of Bisbee will require a rebuild of existing marketing.  This will require startup costs, including legal, technology, and insurance, which are incremental above the status quo.  Further, we will need sufficient funding to create a multi-year strategic plan, re-platforming the website and social media, and actually create and run new advertising to attract overnight visitors.  This is our first step and will become the foundation of the future marketing of Bisbee.  We have to get this right if we are going to build a sustainable approach.

  1. We have provided an initial budget to achieve this – we respectfully ask for a budget of at least $115,500 for the balance of FY26

• Strategic funding commitment: Marketing is a 2-5year approach and we will need the city commitment to fund the DMO in perpetuity – this will be essential for our future partners including marketing agency and advertisers, enabling negotiated contracts that are strategically beneficial versus the ad-hoc model of the past.  We ask for 75% of actual monthly Bed Tax collections, paid one month in arrears.  

• The purpose of the Bed Tax (funded 100% by visitors) is to encourage overnight stays in Bisbee. Optimize Bed Tax spending: Collaborate with the city to ensure we have a thoughtful and purposeful approach to spending the limited funds we have to market Bisbee.  We will educate and advocate for:

  1. Bias to invest Bed Tax funds toward revenue-generating outcomes (Sales Taxes)

  2. Bias to invest with the purpose of driving overnight stays in Bisbee (refills Bed Tax funds)

  3. Limited spending on options that do not meet the above; we recognize there may be occasions the council support investments that enhance the visitor experience in Bisbee.  Ideally, establish a percentage cap of the Bed Tax that can be invested in this manner as this is not self-sustaining

  4. We will endeavor to maximize the DMO budget in concert with the above.  This will mean wisely investing and limiting operational expenses wherever possible

• Bisbee Forward will commit to segment bank accounts:

  • Bed Tax funding

  • Member and donations funding (supporting our Association objectives outside marketing)

  • Bisbee Forward will commit to utilizing Bed Tax funding for marketing purposes only and will not utilize this fund for any political purposes.

After engaging with the city at the Council work session on November 18th, we are grateful to report the city council was supportive and directed the city attorney to support $115,500 for initial funding and 70% of bed taxes collected starting in FY27. We await next steps with the city.

Looking forward:

We commit to transparency (as we have demonstrated since our inception) and regular engagement / feedback with the city council. Further, we welcome all voices in Bisbee to engage with us by asking questions and challenging our approaches - our objectives are clear and we welcome ideas that can enhance our mutual success. There is an email link on the website to reach us.

We're grateful for your support and appreciate the overwhelmingly positive feedback we have received from the community!