The Bishop Chamber of Commerce has gone viral, or whatever word is appropriate for successfully using the web to not just draw visitors to the East Side, but getting them booked
into hotel rooms as well.

Chamber Executive Director Tawni Thomson provided the annual report on the Bishop Tourism Improvement District to the City Council at its Monday meeting, reporting an occupancy percentage at 71.1-percent, just 0.7-percent below the seven year high hit in 2019, pre-COVID. “We’d predicted we’d be back to 2019 levels by 2025,” Thomson said, “but we’re almost there right now.”

Thomson made the distinction between destination marketing and destination development,
the avenue the Chamber has taken the last few years. Development focuses on getting the
information out there through a variety of media, including “earned media projects,” also
known as free press. The other new wrinkle is the use of “influencers,” or paid social media.
With $97,000 left over from last year to feed into this year’s budget, the plan going forward is
to go back into the sport/adventure shows and development of digital billboard ads. “We don’t
have any new projects,” Thomson explained. “We’ll be refining, reviewing and evaluating, as
well as exploring partnerships.”

Other Business
In other action, the Council awarded a $34,100 contract for the City Park restroom
rehabilitation to Masala Construction and added $10,000 to the contract for the Horace
Albright Park Path Project.

The good news for Destin Dishion, who has been functioning as City Administrator and Public
Works Director, was approval of the employment agreement with Nora Gamino to fill the Public Works spot. Gamino has been responsible for water and sewer systems as well as roads for the Inyo National Forest for 15 years.