North San Diego Business Chamber Launches Tourism Initiative

By Alison St John / Reporter

Published April 21, 2017 at 2:07 PM PDT

This story was published more than 7 years ago.

The North San Diego Business Chamber is launching a tourism initiative to attract visitors from neighboring cities like Los Angeles, Palm Springs and Las Vegas.

Chamber President Debra Rosen said the initiative is the result of six months of meetings with two dozen tourism-related businesses that are members of the chamber.

“If you look at the people coming to the region, they always want to go down to the Gaslamp or downtown or to the beaches,” she said. “People rarely think of North San Diego.“

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The strategy is aimed at two audiences, she said: residents of nearby cities and residents of San Diego. A campaign called “Half the Distance, Twice the Fun," will highlight what North County has to offer.

“In North County we have more than 75 wineries,” Rosen said, “more than 100 dining venues, more than 45 breweries, 45 golf courses, more than 15 camp sites, and hiking trails, more than 200 hotels and more than 75 spas.”

Three North County casinos have contributed $30,000 to mount the campaign.

Rosen said the chamber has also hired a full-time employee to help residents of San Diego find more reasons to spend their leisure time in North County.

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Alison St John currently serves as a general assignment reporter and occasionally co-hosts KPBS Midday Edition. She fell in love with KPBS Radio when she arrived in San Diego in 1985 and first heard NPR. She has been a voice on KPBS Radio since 1989, and has served as a news reporter for radio, TV and the web, as well as anchoring, hosting, producing and editing. Alison has reported on stories about North County and was based in the KPBS' North County Bureau. Alison covered the metro beat during the critical period of the San Diego City pension crisis, and the education beat while Alan Bersin was the controversial Superintendent of San Diego City School District. She covered health when the industry was converting to managed care and told welfare reform stories in the late 1990s when Clinton was “ending welfare as we know it.” She has covered land use issues extensively, looking at the challenges of meeting a growing population while preserving community character, and developing a better transportation system to meet environmental concerns. She has done many stories on the military in San Diego, and the series she edited on the challenges veterans face returning from active duty to civilian life won “Best of Show” from the San Diego Society of Professional Journalists. She occasionally hosts the KPBS Roundtable and KPBS Midday Edition. Alison has won awards from the San Diego Press Club, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Associated Press TV and Radio Association, and the California Golden Mike Awards. Alison was born in Tanzania, brought up in Scotland, and earned her degree in psychology and sociology from Durham University in England. Her postgraduate diploma is in student counseling. She worked in England, Nigeria, Switzerland, Belgium, India, and Japan before moving to the United States in 1981. She now lives in Oceanside and enjoys how her community is growing and changing.