Launch a Tourism Trail in 3 Easy Steps
Downtown Paso Robles Wine Trail, powered by Seeker
At Seeker, we love forging connections between travelers looking to discover unique and underrated experiences and destinations just waiting to be explored. Seeker guides are just one of the many ways we make it easy for destinations to share the best their region has to offer and attract visitors with shared values and interests.
In just three easy steps, you can launch an immersive, mobile-friendly experience that showcases the unique attractions, hidden gems, and cultural treasures that make your region standout. Whether you're aiming to attract adventure seekers, history enthusiasts, foodies, or art aficionados, Seeker empowers you to present your destination's best in a engaging and user-friendly format. And best of all, it’s free! So, let’s discover how to launch a trail on Seeker in 3 easy steps.
But first, what exactly is a tourism trail?
A tourism trail is a curated route that introduces visitors to the most noteworthy spots in your destination around a specific theme or interest. Whether it's a walking tour, a scenic drive, or a thematic itinerary, a well-designed tourism trail, is an integral part to any destination marketing strategy, connecting travelers with the essence of your region—its stunning landscapes, rich history, vibrant culture, and delightful culinary experiences. Trails can be as simple as a map of thematic places to make it easy for visitors to navigate your destination or as elaborate as a digital passport that rewards visitors for checking-in, like those covered in the Best Trails, Tours, and Passports in 2023.
For example, in recent years the US has witnessed a surge in popularity of taco trails, while wine and beer regions have jumped on the booze-cation bandwagon through wine and ale trails. Many destinations are leveraging public art trails, like the Kansas City Parade of Hearts, to attract visitors and locals alike. And others are focusing on promoting their historical roots by highlighting significant sites, like Jackson, Mississippi and their Civil Rights Trail. These diverse tourism trails have proven to be effective in enticing travelers, catering to their specific interests, and showcasing the unique attractions each destination has to offer.
What are the benefits of tourism trails for destinations?
Tourism trails are a valuable tool that empowers destinations to strategically showcase your best assets, create memorable experiences for visitors, and foster economic growth. We predict they will continue to grow in popularity in 2023 and beyond as a way to attract and engage travelers and promote the unique qualities of a destination.
A few benefits of tourism trails for destinations include:
Showcasing Unique Attractions: Tourism trails allow destinations to highlight unique and/or underrated attractions, whether they be natural wonders, historical sites, cultural experiences, or local specialties. By creating themed or curated routes, destinations can strategically present their best offerings to visitors.
Enhanced Visitor Experience: Trails provide a structured and easy-to-follow itinerary for travelers, making it convenient for them to explore and navigate the destination. This enhances the overall visitor experience, ensuring they can efficiently discover the key points of interest without feeling overwhelmed or lost.
Promoting Local Businesses: Tourism trails can lead visitors to various local businesses, including restaurants, shops, and accommodations. By driving foot traffic to these establishments, the trails support the local economy and encourage collaboration among different stakeholders in the tourism industry.
Extended Stays: A well-designed tourism trail can extend the length of visitors' stays in a destination. As they engage in a curated journey, they are likely to spend more time exploring and experiencing what the area has to offer, leading to longer visits and increased economic benefits for the community.
Attracting Target Audiences: Themed trails can cater to niche audiences, such as adventure seekers, foodies, history buffs, or nature enthusiasts. By tailoring trails to align with the interests of potential visitors, destinations can attract niche markets and stand out from competitors.
Fostering Word-of-Mouth Marketing: Unique and memorable experiences along a tourism trail are likely to generate positive word-of-mouth marketing. Satisfied visitors may share their experiences with friends and family and on social media, leading to organic promotion and an expanded reach for the destination.
Building Destination Identity: Tourism trails contribute to building a distinct identity for a destination. By emphasizing its unique offerings and storytelling potential, a destination can carve out a memorable image in the minds of travelers.
Collaboration and Networking: Creating a tourism trail often involves collaboration among different stakeholders, such as local businesses, community organizations, and tourism authorities. This process fosters networking and partnership opportunities, strengthening the overall tourism ecosystem.
How to curate your first tourism trail?
Curating your first tourism trail can feel overwhelming. But don’t fret! It’s a very fun and rewarding experience and much easier than you think. Here are some steps to guide you through the process:
Identify Key Attractions: Start by identifying the key attractions and points of interest that you would like to promote. These could include natural landmarks, historical sites, cultural experiences, local festivals, unique businesses, or any other aspects that make your destination special.
Define a Theme: Consider selecting a theme for your tourism trail that aligns with the interests of your target audience. Themes could be based on outdoor adventures, culinary experiences, art and culture, historical exploration, or any other topic that showcases the uniqueness of your destination.
Involve Local Businesses: Reach out to local businesses, including restaurants, cafes, boutiques, and accommodations, that align with your theme. Collaborate with them to include special offers, discounts, or unique experiences for trail participants, which can enhance the overall trail experience and benefit local enterprises.
Map the Route: Once you have your attractions and theme in mind, map out the route for your tourism trail. Ensure that the trail flows logically, with easy navigation between locations. Consider the distances between each stop, transportation options, and the overall time required to complete the trail.
Now that you have your theme and points of interest defined, it’s time to make it interactive. Seeker provides turn-key tools to create interactive, mobile-friendly trails that drive engagement and adoption. With Seeker, you can create a free trail in a matter of minutes and start seeing immediate results.
Create a trail on Seeker in 3 easy steps:
Step 1: Create a guide on Seeker
To launch your trail, create a free account on Seeker. From your profile page, click New Guide. Be sure to give your trail a compelling name and a thorough description that tells your visitors exactly what this trail is about. Make your trail discoverable on Seeker by adding tags such as kid-friendly, date nights or outdoor adventure.
Step 2: Add places
Built-on Google Places, Seeker makes it simple to add attractions, restaurants, hotels and more to your trail in one-click. You can even further customize each place by adding tips for your visitors and uploading your own images. Don’t have unique imagery for your places? We got you. Seeker includes an extensive database of beautiful places imagery for you to select from, right from within your trail.
Step 3: Share it
Your trail is automatically Search Engine Optimized (SEO) and discoverable by search engines. Additionally, your trail is published to Seeker for prospective travelers to discover via search on the Seeker community site. And last, you can easily share your trail on social media using our built-in share options and on your blog with our no-code widgets. You can even export a QR code to promote your trail at participating businesses, festivals and major attractions. Simply click the Share link from your trail and explore all the share options.
Check out 11 Surefire Ways to Boost Engagement of your Tourism Trail for more tips to drive meaningful results quickly.
And that’s it. It’s a simple as 1-2-3! And best of all, it’s free!
It’s free!
Ready to take your trail to the next level?
With Explore, the Visitor Experience Platform by Seeker, you’ll gain a host of advanced features designed to take your trail campaigns to the next level.
Explore features include:
Custom domain
Custom branding
Visitor insights
Gamification with Check-in Challenges
Let us show you how with a 20 minute demo of Explore.
