The agritourism marketing thesisPeople want to unplug. They're looking up where to on their phone.
September 2026 · All figures approximate · Sources at the end
This is the case we make to every farm, orchard, tulip field and light show we work with. Agritourism has doubled twice in fifteen years, families are actively shopping for a day away from a screen, and the entire decision now happens on a phone — increasingly inside an AI answer rather than a list of links. What follows is the data behind that, every figure sourced and dated. If you'd rather see it applied, read the tulip festival case study or the pumpkin patch and Christmas light show pages.
Flat for a decade. Then 30 million more Americans went outside.
Outdoor Foundation / Outdoor Industry Association Outdoor Participation Reports, 2011 to 2026 · Americans age 6+ who took part in outdoor recreation at least once · years without a published figure are omitted · nearly 30M added since 2019
And they're spending it at farms. $1.8B to $4.5B in 15 years.
USDA Census of Agriculture 2007, 2012, 2017, 2022 · direct-to-consumer sales ($1.2B, $1.3B, $2.8B, $3.26B) plus agritourism and recreational services ($566M, $704M, $949M, $1.26B) · nominal dollars · 2017 broadened the direct-sales question and dropped wineries from agritourism
Families are shopping for an off-screen Saturday.
You're not competing with the farm two towns over. You're competing with an iPad. And the parent is already on your side.
Where families check before they choose. One year of change.
BrightLocal Local Consumer Review Survey, 2025 vs 2026 · share of U.S. consumers using each to find or vet local businesses · ChatGPT alone: 31% · Google AI Mode: 23% · the average consumer now checks six platforms before choosing
Show up in one place, you're an option. Show up in four, you're the plan.
One channel
Three or more channels · purchase rate
Omnisend · campaigns using three or more channels vs one · 2019: 3.21% vs 12%+ purchase rate (+287%) · 2021, 135,000 campaigns: 0.14% vs 0.83% order rate (+494%) · e-commerce data, applied directionally
A ticket to their farm is a ticket not sold at yours.
Whoever wins the first view wins the whole season with that family. There is no second visit to fight over.
8 in 10 is our working assumption from client ticketing patterns, not a published survey figure · click shares are Google organic averages across all queries
Turn event attention into attendance.
Make your event impossible to ignore.
Every door they could walk through. One ecosystem.
- Google Search
- Google Maps
- Business Profile
- ChatGPT
- Gemini
- AI Overviews
- TikTok
- SMS
- Retargeting
The more people want to escape the screen, the more the screen decides where they escape to.
Be everywhere online. So you can be the place they go to be nowhere online.
Every number, where it came from.
Agritourism. USDA NASS Census of Agriculture 2007, 2012, 2017, 2022. Direct-to-consumer sales: $1.2B, $1.3B, $2.8B, $3.26B. Agritourism and recreational services: $566M, $704M, $949M, $1.26B. USDA ERS Charts of Note, Dec 2024; NERCRD data brief, May 2024.
Outdoors. Outdoor Foundation / Outdoor Industry Association, Outdoor Participation Reports 2011 to 2026 (2010: 137.9M; 2011: 141.1M; 2013: 142.6M; 2014: 141.4M; 2016: 144.4M; 2017: 146.1M; 2019: 153.6M; 2020: 160.7M; 2021: 164.2M; 2022: 168.1M; 2023: 175.8M; 2024: 181.1M; 2025: 183.2M).
Unplugging. Pinterest Parenting Trend Report, 2026. American Psychiatric Association Healthy Minds poll, Aug 2025.
Events. Eventbrite Social Study, Jan 2026. Luminate Live Music 2026 report, U.S. Music 360, Q1 2026. MERGE, The Event Effect: Gen Z Retail Survey, 1,000 U.S. Gen Z, July 2024.
Families. Talker Research for Lowe's, 2,000 U.S. millennial and Gen Z parents. Westgate Resorts family outdoor-time survey, via Stacker.
AI and search. OpenAI weekly active user announcements via TechCrunch, Axios, CNBC, Reuters (Nov 2023 to Feb 2026). BrightLocal Local Consumer Review Survey 2026. NP Digital customer journey survey, 2025 (11.1 touchpoints). SparkToro zero-click studies 2019, 2024, 2026.
Channels. Omnisend omnichannel statistics reports 2020 (2019 data) and 2022 (2021 data, 135,000 campaigns). Backlinko organic CTR study, ~4M search results, Semrush data.
Note. Omnichannel figures are e-commerce campaign data, applied directionally. The 8-in-10 one-visit-per-season figure is a crowdflowco working assumption, not a published statistic. Every other number was re-verified against its original source on Sept 7, 2026.
Want to know which of those doors you're missing?
Twenty minutes on your season. We'll show you what you rank for now, where you turn up in an AI answer, and which of the eleven touchpoints above are actually working for your venue. You leave with a written plan whether you hire us or not.
Month-to-month, always. No contract running through your season.