Tusayan is considering changing its relationship with the Grand Canyon Chamber of Commerce with some expressing a desire to take away the Chamber’s Designated Marketing Organization and the grant money that goes with it.

Stoney Ward, a manager for Buck Wild Hummer Tours, has been one of the more vocal voices in calling for the creation of a tourism committee. He said, “We need to have a mission to accomplish our needs.”

 The Chamber, which has been front and center in helping the area recover from the pandemic, addressed a list of challenges and strategies in a recent newsletter.

Challenges:
•All but 2 Tusayan businesses claim Grand Canyon as their location on their websites
•People don't search Tusayan they search Grand Canyon
•We are in the middle of a pandemic and shifting a campaign focus from Grand Canyon to Tusayan can hurt more than help

Ways the Chamber has supported Tusayan name in advertising:
•If you search Tusayan in Google after the AOT site the Chambers webpages come next which actually demonstrates how much we do support Tusayan.
•Print Ads all show Grand Canyon/Tusayan (and have for years)
•Print Ads show map of Tusayan/Grand Canyon
•Current Ad campaign link to Tusayan messaging

The Town has employed a PR firm Cindy May to promote the town apart from the Chamber’s efforts. The Town Manger’s report says many on the Town are questioning those efforts and how that form was hired.

The report states:

“In addition staff received some inquires from the public regarding the Cindy May marketing group and whether an RFP or RFQ process should be required for their services.”