Benson, Arizona (KGUN) — A virtual road trip video tour of the city of Benson along historic Highway 80 earned top honors from the Governor’s Office for partnering with neighboring cities.

“This is the only one we have gotten from the state,” said tourism supervisor Bob Neilson.

In 2018, Mr. Neilson saw ADOT installing historic Highway 80 signs in Benson. Then, seeing the sign go up, he and his tourism officials began brainstorming what they could do to highlight the road.

But the pandemic got in their way.

Four years later, in late 2022, Benson Tourism Board received two grants from the Visit Arizona initiative to fund the Highway 80 project.

In the first stage, I created a map of the route and various cities along the way. The transmission phase was a video tour that took viewers through Cochise County with stops in Mezcal, Benson, Tombstone, Bisbee and Douglas.

“It’s a very nice drive. I hope people get in their cars and go on road trips and spend the day with their families,” said Kathy Lara, a tourism official.

Laura and Neilson worked with other visitor centers along the highway to highlight the attractions of each location.

“This partnership is good for all of us and is very important to bring tourism back to Cochise County,” Lara said.

This collaboration earned the project the Governor’s Tourism Award for Best Partnership. Neilson said he wanted the video to introduce other visitors to his center because he wanted to provide a familiar face so people felt comfortable asking questions.

“We wanted to promote the visitor center and do something that would get people to stop by because you would tailor exactly what people want,” said the supervisor.

Since airing the video in March, Lara said guests have increased and she and Mr. Nielson have become recognizable in the video.

Lara and Neilson agree that winning an award doesn’t make them happy, it actually makes them think more creatively.

“We are still on the clouds,” said Lara. “But that doesn’t mean we’re happy. We still have big plans for the upcoming winter season.”