10 Photos Your Agritourism Project Needs To Attract More Visitors
Hi,
A picture is worth a thousand words, so choosing the right images for your agritourism product can make all the difference in turning potential viewers into visitors.
What makes a good tourism photo? It’s one that captures a moment, an emotion. It helps to tell a story. It’s high-quality.
And it doesn’t happen by accident. While you may occasionally stumble across a great photo by those tourists who visit your activity (and we’ll get more into how to best use these photos soon), it’s better to be proactive and prepared with photos of your own.
Great photos are the material you need to promote your experience, whether you’re building out a website, designing a flier, promoting on social media, updating your TripAdvisor, or any number of other options.
Just because there are plenty of places to promote your agritourism activity, though, doesn’t mean all that matters is having a lot of photos to show.
Having the right photo matters.
Why? For starters, visitors to your website will spend 5.94 seconds looking at the main image, compared to 5.59 images looking at the written content.
So, you have less than 6 seconds to capture their imagination. Do that, and you’ll get another 6 seconds to spark them with some well-written content (more on that soon, too!).
But if you can combine the two, the odds are in your favor: a visitor that spends at least 30 seconds on your site is more likely overall to stay.
When they stay longer, they learn more about you, about why you do what you do, and ultimately, become more likely to book your activity.
So as important as your written words are, that first image is what really needs to draw them in.
Today, we’re going to share the 10 photos your agritourism activity needs to succeed, along with examples for each.
The 10 Photos Your Agritourism Project Needs To Attract More Visitors
Your hero photo - A single photo that captures your whole experience in a powerful, engaging way. Ask yourself - if a tour operator said you had only one chance to convince your target audience to come, what would you show them?
Ex: As you can see with this example from Tuscany Wine Tour, you know immediately what you're getting from this experience. Gorgeous landscapes, Italian wines, and good times with friends.
What they’ll see - For an agriculture-based activity, what’s a beautiful way to show the farm they’ll be visiting? This could be highlighting a crop or flower when it's ripe, looking out over the fields, or showing some unique part of the production process.
Ex: With Punakea Palms in Lahaina, they share a photo of a cropping of coconut palms that is likely denser than tourists would ever normally experience.
What they’ll do - One of the tenets of an agritourism activity is giving the tourists something to do. Capture your guests in the moment to help future bookers understand the kind of activity, the level of effort, and the type of clothing they may need.
Ex: The Araksa Tea Plantation in Chiang Mai, Thailand does a nice job combining all of these elements in one photo.
And who will do it - People like to see themselves reflected, so share photos of tourists in your ideal customer range. Potential audiences include diverse solo travelers, backpackers, families with kids, and couples.
Ex: In this visit to a working sheep farm in Ireland, we can see one of the activities (“try your hand at bog-cutting using the slean/turf spade”) is being enjoyed by a young, active couple.
What they’ll buy - As an important part of the agritourism visit, having something for tourists to buy at the end of their journey gives them a souvenir for themselves, a gift for someone else, and a way to relive their experience with you. By sharing a photo in advance, they can anticipate having room to pack.
Ex: This display case of honey and vinegar from the Ermionis - Bairaktaris Apiary in Greece gives an idea of the range of products available.
What they’ll feel - This glimpse into the emotions of your agritourism activity can help to explain what may seem like an unfamiliar situation. Whether it’s the look of accomplishment after a long hike, the curious look of a couple smelling coffee, or a child’s excitement playing with animals, this photo sets up how your visitors will feel during their time with you.
Ex: For anyone not sure what visiting a goat farm is like, this fun photo from Aletta’s Goat Farm on the island of Bonaire lets us know how silly the experience will likely be.
What they’ll learn - In addition to the experiences of the moment, a photo about the educational and experiential side of the activity reminds tourists they’ll be getting hands-on learning.
Ex: This photo shows a chart of the flavor characteristics of chocolate from the Maui Chocolate Tour, along with a glimpse at chocolate from around the world.
Show who the activity is for - Some activities, like wine tasting, are ideal for groups of adults and couples. Others, like farm visits, are perfect for families with young kids.
Ex: At Bellevue Farm Tours in the UK, we see young kids and parents with the animals. A note on privacy: due to privacy concerns, we aren’t sharing pictures with children’s faces since we don’t have their permission. Our advice for your tour, especially if it is open to young people, is to always ask permission to use the family’s photos on social media and promotions, even if they have already shared it on your page.
Highlight the unique features - Whether you’re leading visitors on a tour with multiple stops or your location itself has interesting elements (buildings, monuments, architecture, etc.), share a photo from the destination itself that’s likely to spark curiosity.
Ex: This wine barrel-inspired structure at the Orbelus Organic Winery in Bulgaria is eye-catching enough to inspire a trip just for the photo.
And you! - For many tourism activities, you are as much a part of the story behind it as anything else. Having a nice photo of yourself on your site and profile pages helps to connect tourists to what it is you’re doing.
Ex: This is a photo of one of the guides for the Selva Negra Farm Tour in Nicaragua showing two coffee cherries.
And finally… a bonus 11th photo!
Photos from tourists - As your activity gets more popular, you’re sure to get plenty of photos from tourists, too, that fit into many of the categories above. While it’s important to ensure you maintain a level of quality, the use of user-generated content (the kinds of photos your tourists take and share) creates a trust that can’t be bought. We’ll get more into how to create these kinds of moments in an upcoming email!
Ex: An excited couple from the Organic Paradise Tour in Costa Rica.
By starting with these 10 photos and making sure that each category is as strong as possible, you’ll make it easier to promote your agritourism activity to both tourism operators and tourists looking to visit.
Warmly,
Alex and Joseph
Hope for better from Agro Tourism Association