LAKE ELSINORE -- It isn't much, but it's a start.

Tucked in a corner of the local chamber of commerce's building on Graham Avenue is the recently unveiled Lake Elsinore Visitors Bureau. The bureau itself is nothing more than several wooden panels attached to the chamber's walls lined with dozens of plastic holders for brochures and fliers.

Lake Elsinore Valley Chamber of Commerce President Kim Cousins admits that it doesn't encompass all that much.

But the meaty part of the bureau, he says, is its Web site, www.visitlakeelsinore.com. There, visitors will able to access tons of information about recreation, shopping, lodging and dining in the city. They'll even be able to make reservations to some hotels online.

"Because of (the Internet), we're able to create the bureau without the infrastructure at the chamber," Cousins said.

Creation of the bureau began last year when the City Council decided to increase the amount of funding it gives the chamber each year. Deciding at the same time to eliminate the city's tourism division, the council agreed during budget talks to give the chamber $50,000 more a year to promote tourism on its behalf.

Born from that was the bureau.

As they launch the venture, chamber officials are looking forward to the task ahead. They're well equipped to take on the additional role, they say, and they've created a solid plan for the future.

"It's a big move," chamber board Chairman Tom Grady said. "In the past, we've been strictly involved in promoting economic development. It's taking on a whole other dimension."

Grady says that one of the advantages in promoting tourism that the chamber has over the city is that it can operate the bureau more efficiently because it doesn't have to go through the governmental processes the city does.

"We can act quicker," he said. "We don't have to go through any bureaucracy."

Next to the city, the chamber is probably the only organization in town that is qualified to promote tourism, City Councilman Thomas Buckley said.

The chamber has relationships with many of the businesses in town, he said. Many of those businesses are attractions for tourists.

"They know everyone in town already," Buckley said. "I can't think of any other organization in the city that could even come close to setting (the bureau) up quickly, running it efficiently, running it reliantly and getting so many business people and businesses on board so quickly."

Cousins said that the chamber plans to tap those businesses when it creates a tourism council in the next couple of months to guide the visitors bureau's work. That panel is expected to be in place by the end of March, he said.

Among the things the council expects to discuss, Cousins said, is the possibility of asking the city to provide a mechanism for some additional funding sources. The city already has a transient occupancy tax -- a 10 percent tax charged to people who stay in local hotels or campgrounds -- and Cousins said the tourism council could ask the city to increase that.

There is also the possibility that the group will ask for the creation of a tourism improvement district, a designated area from which special taxes will be collected from property owners, he said.

The Temecula Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau created such a district last year that will collect a 2 percent annual assessment on the gross revenues of 12 hotels and motels within the city.

Either idea would help the Lake Elsinore bureau collect money to spend on tourism promotion, Cousins said. A request on that could come before the City Council by September, he said.

Buckley said either idea is worth studying.

In the short term, much of the bureau's efforts will be aimed at attracting day-trippers to the city, Cousins said. Because there is a dearth of hotel rooms in town, he said, there's no way to house more long-term visitors.

Though a Best Western hotel is expected to open in the next couple of months and a Holiday Inn Express is still in the planning phase, Cousins said, there is still a need for rooms. One of the chamber's goals will continue to be to attract more hotels to the city, he said.

So for the time being, he said, the visitors bureau will be going after tourists who live within 100 miles of Lake Elsinore. One of the possibilities, he said, will be creating a presence at tourism conventions and exhibitions throughout Southern California.

"It's critical to attract day visitors at this time," Cousins said. "We don't have beds to hold them."

The effort to attract visitors from Southern California will also help the city accomplish another goal, Buckley pointed out.

Armed with a colorful new logo and a catchy slogan -- "Dream Extreme," a play on the city's status as an extreme sports destination -- the city has been attempting to change public perceptions about one of the state's oldest and more diverse cities.

Buckley said that through the visitors bureau's efforts to attract tourists, the city will be able to promote its new brand more effectively.

"It dovetails very nicely with the rebranding effort and the public relations campaign," he said. "They can play off of each other very well."

Contact staff writer Jose Carvajal at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2624, or jcarvajal@californian.com. Comment at www.californian.com.