5 Ways a Tourism App Can Help You Tell Your Destination's Story

You’ve got a place full of character—but how do you make sure people feel it? If you’re short on time, low on budget, and still expected to deliver big impact, you’re not alone. And you don’t need a media team or new website to start telling better stories.

A tourism app can help you do more with less. It’s a simple way to connect visitors with what makes your destination unique—whether they’re standing at a historic site or scrolling from their couch. Let’s walk through five practical ways you can start telling your story using tools you already have.

1. Add Audio Tours That Sound Like Locals

Let’s be honest—text on a plaque can only do so much. A familiar voice? That sticks.

With a tourism app, you can:

• Upload short voice clips from locals or guides

• Share fun facts, stories, or legends

• Give people the option to listen while they explore

Pro tip: Try recording in different tones (friendly, dramatic, documentary-style) to see what resonates and don't worry, your cell phone captures decent audio.

2. Use Photos to Showcase the Unexpected

You don’t need a drone and a design degree. Just snap what people would miss without you:

• Before-and-after shots of heritage buildings

• Close-ups of a mural’s detail or a rarely-seen signs

• The pattern on a historic tile floor inside a shop or hallway

• A handwritten menu, storefront chalkboard, or vintage business signage

• The view from a community bench, lookout point, or rooftop

• Something seasonal: the first bloom of spring outside a café or pumpkins lined up in front of a main street shop

• Public details most miss: manhole covers, lamppost designs, mailboxes, or historic etchings

• “Back door” beauty—an alley mural, fire escape garden, or a tucked-away patio

This helps visitors see your destination the way locals do. Remember, we're going for standing out, so showcase your destination's uniqueness!

3. Map Stories to Places

The best stories happen in real places. A tourism app lets you pin those moments on a live, interactive map—and when you weave in stops at local shops or restaurants, it becomes a way to boost business while telling your story:

• Add a stop at a 100-year-old bakery

• Highlight the site of a historic event

• Build a route that brings your community’s culture forward

Example: Evergreen Brickworks used Driftscape to create a five-stop “Sustainable Technology” tour (Highlighting their high and low tech sustainability practices). They added photos, diagrams, narration, and video. Each element helps to tell the story—and the tour has over 1500 views so far, and boosted their local engagement online.

4. Build Themed Tours Around What People Care About

Not every tour needs to follow a timeline. Some of the best stories come in clusters:

• “Women Who Shaped Our City”

• “Taste of the Neighbourhood”

• “Murals, Markets & Moments”

It’s all about connecting people to place through shared interests.

5. Let Local Businesses Add Their Voice

People love hearing from people—not programs. Let your small businesses and community groups share their stories, too:

• A shopkeeper’s memory from 20 years ago

• A restaurant owner’s food philosophy

• A mini-feature on what to do nearby

It’s real, it’s human—and it turns visitors into fans.

Start Small, Then Grow

Worried about time? You can start with just 3–5 points of interest. Add photos, a few lines of text, maybe one audio clip. That’s it. You can always build from there.

Not sure where to begin? Start with:

• A landmark that always comes up in conversation,

• Combine a trail with a local business (Downtown + Sweets Tour); or

• Ask your volunteers and business owners what story they love telling visitors. Connect that story with 1-2 more, and you've got a great tour!

See What Works

Want to know what visitors love? Apps like Driftscape give you real-time data—what’s clicked, what’s listened to, and how long people are engaging. That means you can refine as you go.

Final Thought: You Don’t Need Big Tools to Tell a Big Story

Your destination already has a story. A tourism app helps people hear it, feel it, and share it.

If this sounds like something that could work in your town, you’re not alone. Plenty of small teams are finding success by starting small and building their stories over time.

Want to see how other small teams are making this work? Let's Chat [Explore Tourism App Solutions]

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