10 Tips to Attract Tourists to your Destination

Every traveler has a dream destination, no matter where they live. Some wish they could capture their favorite scenery in the frame of an iconic landmark, such as the Eiffel Tower. Others long to visit old castles and monuments across Europe. With so many wonderful places around the world, how can you attract tourism and make your country, city or town stand out? With the 10 helpful tips listed in this post, it will be much easier to attract tourists to your destination.

I. What Attracts Tourists to a Country, City or Town?

As a result of the covid-19 pandemic, many of us have become homebodies. Although it’s great having our own space and enjoying it, we still need to step out of our comfort zones sometimes for inspiration and renewal. Most people have a favorite destination, but can also be open to visit new places.

At first, it might seem difficult to attract tourism to your destination. However, all you need to do is to present it the best way you can. For example, you can research some local history, and then share the most interesting facts. You can also take nice pictures or make entertaining videos of local attractions or events. People will be naturally drawn to it.

But, what things attract tourists to visit a place? Each destination is unique and has its own energy. Therefore, you can work on discovering your touristic strengths. What does the local business look like? Do you have specialties and singular products? What do people like to see when they visit your town? What are the best local hotels and views? Is it easy traveling to it? What locations seem to attract tourists the most?

Once you answer these questions, you will understand what activities can attract tourists to your town. Consequently, you can highlight those to increase local tourism even more.

II. 10 Ideas to Attract Tourists to your Destination

Before the pandemic, travel played a huge role in propelling economic growth in many countries. Now, as we navigate our way out of this challenging period, we are seeing a return of the leisure tourism industry, bringing much needed revenue to touristic places all over the world.

But how to encourage tourism to your country, city, or town? Here are 10 effective ideas to attract tourists to your destination.

1. Use an online events calendar for engagement.
2. Establish a strong online presence.
3. Promote local attractions with engaging content.
4. Showcase local events and businesses.
5. Host festivals to celebrate your location.
6. Provide maps and directions to attractions.
7. Create an email list to share updates.
8. Share tourism events on social media.
9. Offer free tours and events.
10. Provide discounted tickets for attractions.

1. Attract tourists with an online events calendar

Displaying an events calendar on your website is a great idea to improve tourism in a country, city or town. Indeed, online calendars not only keep the local community informed about upcoming events, but also attract tourists to your destination. Furthermore, it offers a fantastic way to spotlight what makes your location unique and use the most effective approach to captivate people.

The best online calendars can be easily installed in your website and help your organization become the main tourism information hub, promoting local events virtually. If you keep posting events regularly, locals and tourists will be attracted by the possibilities that match their free time and the beautiful places you promote. It is also wise to include shareable links to social media networks, allowing people to easily share exciting updates with their loved ones.

2. Be present online

​​Traditional promotion techniques like billboard advertisements or catchy jingles are no longer enough to promote tourism and attract more tourists. To truly engage potential visitors, you must have an online presence with a well designed website highlighting all the most interesting things about your destination. 

After setting up your website, showcase yourself on different channels like popular industry forums, review sites and mapping applications. You can also use social media platforms to interact with people and attract tourists to your destination.

Investing in digital marketing and search engine optimization can drastically improve your destination visibility, driving increased website traffic, and building tourism awareness.

3. Promote local attractions 

To ensure you captivate people's interest in local attractions, make sure you advertise them effectively. Most famous tourist attractions will have their own website and social media pages. Furthermore, these places are already well-known for the excellent services, delicious food, and attractive scenery they provide. This presents an abundance of opportunity for creating interesting tourist guides, events, and festivities to attract tourism.

In order to ensure success in advertising your destination, keep local attractions’ information up to date. People naturally gravitate towards items that are routinely visible. Furthermore, creating a feeling of fear of missing out can make your destination really stand out. 

4. Promote local events

Events are one of the easiest ways to attract tourists to a country, city or town. Indeed, if you want to attract tourism, you should promote local events. This includes everything from street parties to concerts to sporting events. People love to go out and enjoy themselves, especially during vacations. They’ll appreciate knowing about upcoming events in the local community.

You can also host events and virtual conversations regarding your destination, and then promote them on both your website and social media platforms. If you have an event coming up, make sure to advertise it well in advance so people will know when and where to go.

Moreover, you can use this opportunity to make partnerships with local businesses and engage your community. This will help improve and expand tourism, as well as increase revenue for everyone involved.

5. Host a festival to attract tourism

Festivals are a fun way to bring people together, attract tourists and celebrate something special. They also provide an opportunity to promote local businesses and showcase what makes your location unique. For example, you can use festivals to display local talent, food, art, music, and more. 

If you live in an area with lots of artsy people, consider hosting an event where artists can display their work. This will help build awareness about your city attracting tourists, as well as give locals a chance to show off their talents.

A food festival is also a fun way to bring together local businesses and residents to celebrate the local culinary culture. You can use these events to promote tourism by offering free samples of local products.

People love festivals because it’s an opportunity to engage with subjects of interest, consume local foods and beverages and celebrate! You can learn a lot about the type of people that like to visit your destination by hosting festivals frequently.

6. Provide maps and directions to local events and tourist attractions

It is no secret that Michelin achieved renown with its annual guidebook reviews of superior restaurants and services. While the digital age may complicate the promotion of such guides, it is still easy and economical to generate guide web content on exciting festivals and local attractions.

While advertising your events and tourist attractions, some websites and platforms give you the option of incorporating a map widget on your webpage. This can serve to encourage guests to follow through with their arrangements, as the destination will be easy to locate, especially when the exact location is difficult to find.

7. Create an email list to share information about your destination

Gathering customer information and email subscriptions through your website is an effective method for forming a mailing list. Such list provides an avenue for you to keep potential visitors informed about any news, events, and promotions. All this while you attract tourists to your destination.

When creating your email list, it's essential to offer subscribers the opportunity to opt-in or opt-out of receiving our newsletter. Respect for their wishes is essential for building trust and engagement. To further increase engagement, be sure to regularly update your mailing list and utilize a quality email newsletter app to share your content.

Promoting your newsletter and destination the right way can increase tourism exponentially. Make sure to always provide useful information related to your events and attractions, and make people aware of all the great experiences awaiting them!

8. Share tourism events and attractions on social media

Social media is another great way to attract tourists to a place. If people want to see real life experiences about your destination, they’re more likely to search on social platforms, such as Instagram, Facebook and TikTok, than search engines like Google.

To promote your destination on social media, try posting regularly. Post about your local attractions, events and festivals. Short videos combined with discounts and special promotions can help attract more tourists. Another option is to get local celebrities or digital influencers to spend some time in your city or town, and then tell people what they think of the experience.

Remember to draw attention to what is unique about your destination. If you wish, you can even take your followers on a virtual tour to make everyone engaged. Use your imagination and be sure everyone will love it.

9. Offer free tours and tourist events

One of the easiest ways to attract tourists to visit a place is by offering free tours. Many trails and local beauties are difficult to find for outsiders. By offering free tours, you can make these places better known to potential visitors.

With a local specialist, both you and the participants will be able to experience the excursion to the fullest. Don’t forget to motivate local businesses to offer their products along the way. Tourists always like to try local foods and beverages, or buy souvenirs for their beloved ones.

A successful strategy to boost this service is to implement an online scheduling tool to let people reserve their tour in advance. Surely, collecting registrations in advance will give you time to prepare for the attendees you’re expecting. Moreover, it will help you determine what is successful about your approach, how to address your audience, what their preferences are and much more.

10. Provide discounted tickets for tourist attractions

To attract tourism to your destination, we strongly recommend offering discounted tickets to paid attractions. People budget for trips and plan their travels around special discounts, such as Black Friday and Boxing Day promotions. Providing affordable, repeatable deals on tickets not only helps you increase your visitor numbers, but also maximizes your profits over selling tickets at the standard price.

Furthermore, when planning events, diversifying experiences can allow for a more personalized approach. Incorporate different price ranges and discount tiers, such as early bird specials, tiered tickets, and VIP tickets. Through trial and error, you'll eventually be able to discern what appeals the most to your audience.

III. Attracting Tourists with Timely Event Management for DMOs

As seen above, if you want to encourage tourism and attract tourists to your destination, you must have a clear and objective marketing strategy.

Transform your destination into a thriving hub of activity and allure more tourists with Timely Online Calendar Software. Craft a stunning calendar of events effortlessly on your website or mobile app, showcasing the vibrant tapestry of attractions your locale has to offer. 

Timely's Destination Marketing Software is an all-in-one solution designed to elevate event and brand awareness while delighting your audience. Easily create, publish, and promote a modern events calendar with features such as multiple media files, views, categories, and filters, ensuring a visually engaging experience for visitors. Seamlessly promote your events through automated newsletters using our integrated email marketing tools, and extend your reach by automatically sharing events on social media platforms. With Timely Event Calendar Software, promoting your destination's events becomes a streamlined and captivating experience, attracting more tourists and enhancing overall engagement.

Timely Destination Marketing Software has all the tools you need to effectively promote your upcoming events and attractions, as well as collect event registrations and sell tickets online. Check out our DMO Event Calendar demo to see an example of how our platform would look like on your website. 

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FAQ on How to Attract Tourists

1. How to attract tourists to a destination? What things attract tourists to visit a place?

Tourists are drawn to destinations by unique attractions, cultural experiences, local events, and captivating landscapes. Therefore, creating a compelling narrative around these aspects helps in attracting tourists.

To motivate visitors, present your destination's highlights creatively. Share local history, fascinating facts, captivating visuals, and engaging videos of attractions or events. Highlight the energy and uniqueness of your place to naturally attract tourists.

2. How to promote tourism and make my city stand out as a tourist destination?

Making your destination stand out in the crowd involves having a clear tourism promotion strategy. This includes showcasing the history, local attractions, and unique offerings. 

Moreover, utilizing effective marketing strategies, such as online presence, social media engagement, and local events and attractions promotions, can significantly enhance your destination's appeal.

3. How can I ensure effective promotion of local attractions in tourism? 

To effectively promote local attractions in tourism, keep their information updated and create a sense of urgency by highlighting exclusivity. Utilize various platforms, including websites, social media, and events, to showcase your destination's attractions.

4. What are the benefits of hosting events and festivals to attract tourists? 

Festivals and events offer a platform to showcase local talent, art, food, and culture, creating an immersive experience for visitors. They also provide an opportunity to draw attention to your location's uniqueness and attract a diverse audience.

5. How does Timely's Event Management Software help attract tourism? 

Timely's software for destination marketing organizations offers tools to effectively promote local attractions, events, and festivals. It helps you organize and market events, engage with potential visitors through online calendars, and streamline event registrations for a seamless visitor experience.

We hope these tips were helpful for you to learn how to improve tourism in a country, city or town. If you think you can benefit from Timely event management software, book a meeting to learn more about us, and all the solutions and services we offer!

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