NACO, Ariz. — It’s an industry that provided more than $75 million to the economy and employment for around 4,000 people in 2006 and is dependent on bringing tourists to Cochise County’s cities and towns.

The Cochise County Tourism Council wants to keep those tourist dollars coming in, and the county members meet monthly to discuss just how to do that. With two representatives from each municipality, the council has a full membership that actively participates in all things related to tourism.

So how do you get folks to travel to Bisbee or Tombstone or Benson? What would make people come here rather than the more well-known big draw cities?

One conduit for attracting potential visitors is the Internet and a “gotcha” Web site.

Though the Cochise County Tourism Council was happy with its Web site just a few years ago, members knew the static, no-frills site needed to be updated. The time each person was spending on the site was decreasing and 4,632 site visitors veered away in 10 seconds or less, according to the May count. Only 169 of the more than 5,000 hits stayed for three to 10 minutes.

So, they applied for a grant from the Arizona Office of Tourism and the Arizona Department of Commerce to make the site more interesting and hold the attention of Web visitors, especially those Hollywood film-types.

Now in the process of construction, the Web site will be a far cry from the old one with its new interactive links, destination information and photos.

But getting all the information to the contractor who is adding that information may be a time-consuming endeavor.

Council Chairman Bob Nilson, the city of Benson’s tourism manager, told the council members during a meeting Wednesday morning at Turquoise Valley Golf Resort that they were on a deadline to get that information in to build the database. The material is due by the end of June. While that may sound like a lot of time, that doesn’t leave much leeway when factoring in the normal duties of the people who run the visitors centers across the county.

The upgraded site should appeal to film producers and directors who seem to like the wildlands of Cochise County. It will give them a taste of what the county has to offer.

Liz Ingalls, executive director Tombstone Chamber of Commerce and who is with the city’s visitors center, said the town experienced a boom in tourism after the movie “Tombstone” came out.

Nilson said it seems people like to visit the places they see in movies.

Kay Daggett, the city of Sierra Vista’s tourism administrator, said the film location exposition held recently provided valuable contacts for future possibilities. She plans to send out 250 letters with brochures about different sites in the county. She also took a seminar on how to work with film companies and what was required as far as confidentiality goes.

“They will ask you for the darndest things. We’ve had directors ask us for chilies, stacked lumber and even desk clutter,” Daggett added.

The cities and county all work together now. They’ve found it benefits their interests to promote other places in the county as well as their own.

“We have learned to work with each other regionally and locally,” Nilson said. “In fact it’s working so well, the cities want us to head up marketing for economic development.”

Ilona Smerekanich, director of the Bisbee Visitor Center, said it has been a learning process, but one that is paying off.

“There are times I take off my city hat and put on my county hat,” she said. “Our goal is to get visitors to the county and let them see how much we have to offer. To see Cochise County and all the great spots, you need more than a few hours. You need a few days.”

Many of the tourists who come to Cochise County are from foreign countries. Ingalls said people from Germany and England have a love for Tombstone.

Bisbee attracts just about everyone, and even the French are catching on to its old world charm.

Of course, the devaluation of the U.S. dollar means more tourism from Europe, Canada and even Australia, Nilson said. Their money will go farther here, so they visit unique places in the United States.

So far, it doesn’t appear the slow economy is affecting travel, Smerekanich said. With Phoenix and Tucson relatively close, fuel prices don’t seem to be creating problem. Bisbee hasn’t seen a downturn in tourism. In fact, over the Memorial Day weekend, around 700 people came through the visitors center. That’s not including the visitors who didn’t go in the office.

“People will always want to travel over holidays,” Smerekanich said. “And we still see plenty of tourists anytime through the week.”