Driftscape Blog

Stop wasting time on generic off-season marketing campaigns that stall out on the ground. This practical field guide by digital tourism expert Andrew Applebaum outlines exactly how lean destination teams can design shoulder-season and winter routes that drive traffic to open businesses using low-maintenance, centralized reward structures.

A digital shopping passport can help tourism teams track more than campaign attention. See how Launceston Central recorded POI views, contest entries, unique users, and $322,114.70 in customer spending, plus how to report those results clearly to boards and local businesses.

Stop guessing whether your tourism marketing strategies are driving physical visits. Move beyond shallow website clicks and discover a practical framework for tracking high-value, place-based data—like point of interest views, trail completions, and digital check-ins—that proves real-world economic value to your board and council stakeholders.

Stop wasting valuable staff hours manually updating merchant listings, seasonal shifts, and town hours. This operational guide shows lean municipality and BIA teams how to launch a local tourism directory tool using automated content ingestion, minimizing administrative workloads while scaling business discovery for visitors.

Many museums struggle to connect visitors with the stories behind their exhibits without cluttering gallery walls with text. This post explores a layered approach to exhibit storytelling by pairing physical labels with QR codes and focused audio tracks. We cover practical tips for audio length, common technical mistakes to avoid, and how to start a sustainable digital strategy by focusing on your most popular artifacts first to improve visitor engagement and dwell time.

Stop wasting hard-earned tourism budgets on traditional print brochures that end up in hotel recycling bins. This step-by-step field guide provides local BIA directors and tourism teams with an actionable framework to design, deploy, and launch a gamified digital shopping passport that drives real foot traffic and captures verifiable merchant spending data.

Stop guessing and start proving your ROI. Here's a practical guide on setting up analytics in app dashboards that turn skeptical stakeholders into fans. Learn how to translate digital clicks into physical foot traffic using real-world wins from the Town of Riverview and Crescent Heights Village BIA.

Stop guessing and start growing. Our 2026 KPI glossary breaks down the mobile app performance metrics that actually matter for BIAs and DMOs, helping you prove ROI and drive local business support.

Stop guessing and start growing. Breaking down the world of app store analytics for BIAs and DMOs, showing you how to measure everything from ASO to real-world visitor interactions. Featuring a case study from the Town of Riverview, this post explains why POI views and engagement data are the real secret sauce for proving tourism ROI and supporting local businesses.

Stop guessing and start growing. Learn how app analytics can transform your tourism strategy from "we think people like this" to "we know this drives ROI." Let's break down the metrics that actually matter for BIAs and DMOs, helping you ditch vanity stats for real economic data.

Running a destination doesn't have to be a guessing game. Andrew breaks down the channel-by-channel strategy for digital marketing in the tourism industry, showing you how to turn limited budgets into major foot traffic through organic content, targeted ads, and digital storytelling platforms.

Marketing in travel doesn't have to break the bank. Andrew, our digital tourism expert, shares 9 practical, low-cost tactics to increase visitation. From the success of Downtown Carleton Place BIA’s scavenger hunts to Bruce County’s reward-based engagement, learn how to use digital tools to turn existing local assets into major visitor draws.

Stop being a "folder-filler" and start being a digital concierge. Andrew breaks down how a smart tourism technology stack is helping DMOs and BIAs save thousands on print costs while driving massive engagement. Learn from real-world wins like Thunder Bay’s 25,000-view haunted house tour and see how the right digital tools can turn your local gems into a 24/7 immersive travel experience. It's time to work smarter, not harder.

Struggling to navigate municipal acronyms? Discover what a DMO (Destination Marketing Organization) stands for, understand the modern transition toward destination management, and learn how local tourism boards, RTOs, and downtown BIAs split operational workflows to manage local stories and listings without burning out limited staff.

Stop the acronym confusion! In this guide, Andrew explains why there is no difference between a Destination Marketing Organization and a DMO. Discover how modern tourism boards are shifting toward destination management and using digital tools like Driftscape to drive local growth and engagement.

Stop restocking soggy paper brochures! Our 2026 Destination Marketing Playbook shows busy tourism teams how to trade manual tasks for digital tools that work 24/7. From Riverview’s "Business Bee" hunt to Crescent Heights BIA saving thousands in print costs, we explore real examples of how small towns are using gamification and self-guided tours to drive foot traffic.

Ever wonder how some towns always seem to have a buzz? It usually comes down to the work of Destination Marketing Organizations (DMOs). In this post, Andrew breaks down how these organizations actually work, how they secure funding without taxing residents, and how small teams—from BIAs to Chambers—can use digital tools to see huge engagement spikes.

Confused by tourism acronyms? Andrew breaks down exactly what a DMO is, how they differ from BIAs, and how teams are using digital tools like Driftscape to turn casual visitors into local shoppers.

The constant grind of managing tourism administration stops you from creating memorable visitor experiences. You don't have to hire more staff or work another weekend to build your destination branding. We compare three essential strategies—AI-powered business directories, mobile tour platforms, and gamification—that allow busy BIA and DMO teams to put their town on the map by enabling self-discovery and cutting down on manual admin tasks.

A self-guided tour doesn't need a huge team or budget. Learn how to launch a professional, engaging mobile tour in just seven days by following a quick-start checklist. We'll show small teams and tourism marketers how to curate content, assemble media, map points of interest, and launch a successful tour that drives foot traffic and engagement. You can use simple gamification, like contests and prizes, to boost participation.