TOMBSTONE, Ariz. (KGUN) — With summer beating down on Southern Arizona, you'd think the Town to Tough to Die would be the Town to Hot to Handle, June through September.
The sweltering temps can be tough on tourism.
"Tourism is a tricky business to begin with," said Robert Davenport, manager for Good Enough Mine Tour & Trolley Tours.
The heat has historically been a hindrance, for sure, but business owners in Tombstone say over the past four years, tourism has picked up during the warmer months, making business owners happy.
"It means everything to us. Our main industry here is tourism,” said Susan Wallace, president of the Tombstone Chamber of Commerce. "Our community depends on our businesses to provide those tax dollars for our services for our.”
"About 60% of my people that are coming in are new to Tombstone," Davenport said.
The new visitors are a good sign, but the town is trying to show there’s more to see than Allen Street and the shops there.
“I still have people coming in like I didn't know the store was here, and we've been open for almost 50 years," said local business owner, Adam Klein. "So people still discover things for the first time every visit, and that's the beauty of the Tombstone.”
He says people come to enjoy their Wild West environment, something hard for other places to copy. But, the history of the city and the impact it had on the country is what Davenport says people don't know.
"Most people don't even realize there's a mind here, and that was the first thing here," he said. "That's important to me to bring across the true history of Tombstone.”
While the change in summer visitors is helping, business owners say they’d like to see more consistent business.
“It helps one spread out, because it just helps financially," Davenport said. "It's easier on the people. It's easier on scheduling your employees. It's good to keep your employees here around.”
Klein says there's something for everyone in Tombstone, which is why he's hopeful that more residents in Southern Arizona make the drive to town.
“Tombstone is very unique (compared) to other tourism destinations because it has such a history, and so many things happened here...you can come to Tombstone, and you can see that the history was here, and then you can make your own brand new memory,” he said.
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Alexis Ramanjulu is a reporter in Cochise County for KGUN 9. She began her journalism career reporting for the Herald/Review in Sierra Vista, which she also calls home. Share your story ideas with Alexis by emailing alexis.ramanjulu@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook.
