Geofencing for Tourism Made Simple With Tools You Already Have

You’ve sat through those presentations, haven't you? The ones that make geofencing sound like you need a million-dollar IT budget and a team of rocket scientists just to figure out where your visitors are going.

It's the classic analyst's pain point: You know location data is the key to understanding visitor flow and proving campaign ROI, but the technical complexity of setting up and managing true GPS-based fences seems impossible for a small-to-mid-sized DMO or BIA. You're left with incomplete data, guessing what truly drove foot traffic.

The great news is you don’t need to buy a complex, proprietary platform to get high-value, actionable geofencing insights. You can use tools you already have, like a digital tourism platform such as Driftscape, to achieve the same goal: defining a virtual boundary and measuring behavior within it. (It’s much simpler than it sounds, I promise.)

Simple Geofencing with a Digital Tourism Platform

Forget the complicated real-time notification systems for a minute. For a tourism data analyst, simple geofencing is really just a way to put a virtual fence around a point of interest (POI) or a specific area, and then measure how many people cross that line.

It’s the foundation of effective cultural tourism engagement, and it’s how you answer key questions: Did the new downtown mural really increase foot traffic? Did the museum audio tour lead people to the gift shop?

You don't need a custom app. You need a platform that lets you define a precise area around a POI and then tracks engagement data (like a check-in, a digital coupon redemption, or an audio tour completion) that can only happen at that location.

Pro Tip: Don't chase real-time ad targeting, which is expensive and privacy-heavy. Focus on using "fences" to measure the effectiveness of your existing campaigns, as this is where the best ROI data lives.

How POI-Based Fences Deliver High-Confidence Data

The easiest way to implement geofencing is by using a self-guided tour app or mobile tour platform, like Driftscape, to create points of interest (POIs) that require an on-site action. This effectively creates a high-confidence fence around that single location.

If a user must physically check in, play an audio file, or answer a scavenger hunt question to complete a task on your app, you know they were standing within feet of that location. That’s your high-confidence engagement data.

For instance, the Michigan Heroes Museum launched multilingual, self-guided audio tours mapped to exhibits. Within the first year, they tracked 3,000+ exhibit interactions and 1,200 completed tours. Because the audio tours were tied to specific POIs, the museum could confidently prove that their content was driving deep, in-person engagement with their collection.

Three Simple Ways to Measure Foot Traffic

• Digital Check-Ins: Place a check-in button on a POI (e.g., a popular photo spot or a landmark). Measure total check-ins to track visits. The Downtown Brampton BIA used this beautifully, getting 3,000+ digital check-ins during a single weekend festival by integrating a contest and reward.

• Gamified Missions: Embed location-specific questions into a scavenger hunt (e.g., "What colour is the plaque on the old mill?"). Only visitors standing there can complete the mission. The Downtown Carleton Place BIA saw similar success, racking up 1,300+ scavenger hunt completions in 30 days using a story-based gamification approach.

• Proximity-Activated Rewards: Deliver a digital coupon or reward when a user opens the POI within a defined radius. This tracks how many people physically arrive and engage with a local business, directly supporting 'shop local' initiatives.

Geofencing Goal	Required App Action	Data Point for Analytics
Measure Event Attendance	Digital Check-in at the entrance	Total check-ins vs. total event passes
Track Tour Completion	POI-specific quiz or task	Total completed tasks/tours
Drive Local Commerce	Digital Coupon unlocked at business	Coupon redemption rate

Why Your Mobile Platform Simplifies The Process

As a professional who analyzes visitor data, you are already an expert in aggregating information from many sources (I’ve been there, staring at five different spreadsheets!). You don’t need another data silo.

A single, user-friendly mobile tour platform lets you:

• Define your "fence" easily: By simply placing a POI on a map and setting its radius.

• Capture engagement directly: The platform tracks the in-situ action (check-in, photo upload, audio play) that confirms their physical presence.

• Simplify the tech: No need for beacon infrastructure or complex mobile carrier agreements.

Focus on creating the authentic, connected, and immersive travel experiences that get people exploring. The data from your location-aware content—that’s your simplified geofencing success story.

Tourism Reality: The most valuable location data proves visitor action, not just proximity. Focus on using your mobile tour platform to track high-confidence, in-situ engagement metrics like check-ins and tour completions to prove ROI.

Frequently Asked Questions About Geofencing

Q: What is geofencing and how is it used in tourism?

A: Geofencing uses GPS or RFID technology to define a virtual perimeter around a real-world geographic area. In tourism, it's used to trigger location-specific actions, like sending a notification when a visitor enters a museum district, or to passively collect data on which specific attractions visitors interact with. The simplest and most practical application for DMOs is using it to measure in-person engagement with a point of interest (POI).

Q: How can a small DMO implement geofencing without a large budget?

A: Small DMOs should focus on POI-based engagement using an existing mobile tour or visitor experience platform, rather than expensive, real-time advertising platforms. Look for a tool that allows you to easily place points on a map and tracks measurable actions (like check-ins or quiz completions) that only happen on-site. This approach keeps the costs low while providing high-confidence data on physical visits.

Q: Is geofencing a privacy concern for visitors?

A: While the term "geofencing" can raise privacy questions, the simple, opt-in methods used in visitor experience apps are generally well-received. When visitors download a self-guided tour app, they explicitly grant location permission to enhance their experience (e.g., "show me the next stop"). The data collected focuses on anonymized aggregate behavior (e.g., "300 people completed the downtown tour this week"), not individual tracking.

Q: What are the main benefits of using geofencing in tourism analytics?

A: The main benefit is moving beyond simple website or social media metrics to track physical visitor behavior. Geofencing allows you to accurately attribute success to a specific place or campaign. You can prove, with a high degree of confidence, that your campaign or infrastructure investment drove measurable foot traffic, which is critical for securing future funding and demonstrating ROI.

Q: What’s the best way to prove ROI using geofencing data?

A: The best way to prove ROI is by pairing a specific promotion with a measurable, location-aware action. For example, run a social media campaign promoting a "Rewards App" and then track the number of digital coupons redeemed at local businesses...all tied to a geofencing POI. This creates a direct line from marketing effort to foot traffic to economic impact.

I'd encourage you to look at the analytics dashboards on your current visitor experience platform. You might find you're already collecting the location-aware data you need to start reporting on your own simple geofencing results today.

Book a demo and start building and tracking location-based experiences that prove your visitor engagement strategy works!