New 'Things to Do in Imperial Beach' Brochure Promotes Local Tourism

Residents of Imperial Beach have long known about cool things to do locally like ride a horse on the beach, visit state parks to the north and south of the pier or cruise on the Bayshore Bikeway.

Last month the South County Economic Development Council compiled some of those activities in a brochure to attract more tourists and visitors to IB.

"We want the tourism dollars to come to Imperial Beach as well as the rest of South County and we want people to stay in our hotels," said SCEDC CEO Cindy Gompper-Graves. "With Pacifica opening a different type of hotel with Pier South it gives us new opportunities to market Imperial Beach."

The City of Imperial Beach reviewed the marketing material before it was released, Gompper-Graves said. One city employee even hopped on her own horse for the horseback riding photo included in the brochure.

The brochure will be more widely distributed to area visitor centers and be made available for hotel visitors.

Most importantly, Gompper-Graves said, the San Diego Convention and Visitors Bureau has a virtual copy of the brochure on its sandiego.org website.

The brochure is part of a larger tourism effort by the South County Economic Development Council to attract visitors to South County.

Instead of a large overseas marketing campaign, she said, the SCEDC has been promoting things to do in South County through sandiego.org, a main landing page for visitors, in an attempt to attract tourists.

As part of the campaign, literature for tourists on art in South County is due out soon. Other cultural amenities will also be promoted in the future.

"We want to make sure people know there's plenty to do out here in South County, and I think in the past, as a region, we have not marketed South County as a tourism destination. But when you sit back and look at all the amenities in IB and also South County, there are tons of things to do," Gompper-Graves said.

Like other municipalities in the area, the City of Imperial Beach pays an annual membership fee for SCEDC membership. IB pays $1,000 a year, Gompper-Graves said.

"They got way more than $1,000 value on this," she said.

Copies of the brochure can currently be found at City Hall and the IB Chamber of Commerce office. The chamber also has a merchant and street guide with advertisements and a map of local businesses available at its Ocean Lane office.

Local business owners interested in picking up copies of the brochure can contact the SCEDC.

What do you think of the brochure? What other activities would you add to the list of things to do in Imperial Beach? Share in comments.