How to Create a Fall Farm Tour with an Interactive Tour Guide App

Andrew Applebaum
6 days ago
3 min read

Colorful farm produce on a wooden table, including apples, grapes, and potatoes. A smartphone with the Driftscape interactive tour guide app displays "North Perth Farm Gate Tour."

It's that time of year again.

The air is getting crisp, the pumpkins are ready for picking, and everyone wants to get out and enjoy the bounty of the season. Your local farms and businesses are ready for visitors, but the challenge is making it all feel like a cohesive experience, not just a bunch of isolated stops. It's tough to coordinate events with limited staff, and a static map just doesn't tell a compelling story (we all know that feeling, right?)

The good news is, you can solve this problem and turn a simple fall outing into a full-on seasonal event.

How? By using an interactive tour guide app.

This isn't just about giving directions; it's a digital playbook for blending local food, history, and unique experiences into one seamless, self-guided adventure.

What Can an Interactive Tour Guide App Do for a Fall Tour?

I once helped a BIA in a small town coordinate a month-long festival. The problem was that the event was focused on the downtown core, but they wanted to get people out to the surrounding businesses, including to a few farms.

We used a mobile platform to create a tour that linked them all together with prizes and rewards. It was a huge success, proving that when you make it easy for visitors to connect the dots, they will!

An interactive tour guide app acts as a digital event coordinator that runs itself. It gives visitors a map, a narrative, and a reason to explore every stop you’ve planned.

This approach allows you to:

Turn multiple stops into a single, cohesive experience.
Boost foot traffic to local farms, markets, and restaurants.
Scale up your marketing without scaling up your staff.
Tell rich stories through audio, photos, and video at each location.
Collect valuable data on visitor engagement and popular stops.

Your Playbook: 5 Steps to Building an Amazing Tour

Ready to stop planning and start building?

Here’s a simple guide to creating your fall farm tour with a self-guided tour app.

Define Your Theme & Partners: A "fall tour" is a good start, but get more specific! Is it a "Pumpkin Patch and Pie Tour"? A "Historic Farmstead Tour"? Or maybe a "Fall Flavours Food Tour"? Once you have a theme, reach out to your local farms, bakeries, artisan markets, and cideries. A collective effort can be a powerful engine for local tourism.
Gather Your Content: You don't need a film crew. Use your smartphone to capture short, engaging video interviews with farm owners talking about their favourite products or a local historian sharing a story about the land. High-quality photos of the food and scenery are a must!
Build It on Your App: Map out the locations and add your content (audio, video, text) to each Point of Interest. This is where your tour takes shape. Add descriptions, hours of operation, and links to each business's website so visitors can plan their trip. This approach is a fantastic way to offer engaging cultural tourism experiences.
Add Gamification & Rewards: This is how you drive participation. Just like North Perth's Paddyfest campaign, which engaged over 80 local businesses, you can use a mobile app to offer prizes or digital coupons. Encourage visitors to "check in" at each farm they visit for a chance to win a prize basket filled with local products.
Promote Strategically: Get the word out! Share the tour link on social media with stunning photos and videos. Promote it in your e-newsletter and on your website. Partner with local publications and influencers. For great tips on getting your tour noticed, take a look at the Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council's website, which has resources on promoting agritourism.

Pro Tip: Empower your partners! Give them a role in promoting the tour. They can share the link with their customers and add it to their own websites, which extends your reach and gives them a sense of ownership.

Creating a fall farm tour that's both a success for your community and a delight for visitors is easier than you think.

By using an interactive tour guide app, you're not just creating a map; you're building a dynamic, self-guided experience that showcases the best of your local food, culture, and people.

It’s the perfect solution for driving foot traffic and celebrating the season.