Applications are now open for Travel Guides Asheville’s Ultimate 2026 Guide To: The Best Things to Do This Summer in Asheville & The Blue Ridge Mountains! This curated summer guide is designed to connect standout local businesses, experiences, attractions, and more, with visitors and locals actively planning how to enjoy the season in Asheville and the Blue Ridge Mountains.
As a featured partner, your business will appear in a high-intent seasonal resource built to inspire action from people looking for memorable summer plans, from weekend getaways and family outings to date nights, group trips, outdoor adventures, and must-visit local favorites.
A placement in this guide puts your business in front of an audience already searching for the best ways to experience Asheville & the BRM during one of the region’s most active travel seasons. This is more than added visibility. It is an opportunity to position your business in front of qualified locals and travelers at the exact moment they are deciding where to go, what to do, and what to book!
Your placement will also benefit from promotion throughout summer across the Travel Guides Asheville platforms. We will actively drive traffic to the guide through our website, Instagram, and extended social media network, including Facebook, Threads, TikTok, YouTube, and Pinterest, creating sustained exposure designed to keep your property top of mind during a key travel planning seasons.
Flexible Rate Option Available: The standard guide placement is $550, but we understand that this may not be accessible for every business at this time. For select small businesses experiencing financial hardship or working within a limited marketing budget, we offer the option to request a flexible placement rate when submitting the application below.
When applying, simply select the flexible rate option, and we’ll follow up with the next step to review your request.
Please note: Flexible-rate placements are limited and not guaranteed. Full-rate participants and early applicants may receive priority placement within the guide.
Posting Dates & Deadlines:
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Posting Dates & Deadlines: •
Posting Dates & Deadlines:
This guide will be posted on Travel Guides Asheville’s Instagram & website on Sunday, May 31, 2026.
*Applications close Tuesday, May 26th at 11 PM.
*Approvals will be sent on a rolling basis and by the latest Wednesday, May 27th. To keep this guide accessible and well-balanced, we’ll be reviewing applications in phases and confirming spots as space allows.
*One-Time Payment of $550 (or approved flexible rate) is due within 24 business hours of approval to guarantee your spot.
Why Apply:
We’ve worked with over 700 local businesses throughout Asheville, WNC and North Carolina in the past 4 years!
Get featured across Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, TikTok, YouTube (new!), and our website
Reach thousands of engaged local and regional followers, with over 1M total monthly viewers on IG alone
BONUS: We’re reinvesting profits into running paid ads to expand the guide’s reach beyond just our followers
New Bonuses
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New Bonuses •
NEW 2026 Guide Feature Bonuses:
We have launched an updated guide layout & format! Check out an example here.
All featured businesses will be added to our interactive TGA “Best Things to Do This Summer” Map, making it easy for followers to see your location, website, reviews, photos and more!
All featured businesses will receive at least 3 reposts from our Instagram over the next several weeks to help boost your visibility and engagement.
(These will appear under the new “Reposts” section of our profile — not on our main feed.)Full-rate participants and early applicants may receive priority placement near the top of the guide for maximum visibility.
💌Optional Incentive:
• You’re invited to create a custom promo or discount code for TGA followers — a great way to drive bookings, track engagement, and make your offer stand out to new customers.Exclusive Collaborator Post Bundle Offer:
Want a stand-alone spotlight on the TGA feed?
For businesses featured in this guide, we’re offering our largest collaboration post discount of the season.
Bundle your guide feature + a collaborator post for $950 (a $1,300 value) and share your business with our 150K+ Asheville & WNC-loving audience (you’ll find this offer in the application to redeem!)
Our website version of the guide can now feature more than 4 photos per business — allowing you to showcase a full gallery!
New? Start Here!
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New? Start Here! •
New to Travel Guides Asheville?
Here’s a breakdown below if you haven’t worked with us before!
How It Works:
Once you submit your application you will receive an approval or follow up email within 24 hours.
You will receive a check out link within your approval email to purchase your business’s spot in the guide.
You must purchase your spot to be included in this guide within 24 business hours of receiving your approval email. Your payment guarantees your spot!
Our “Ultimate 2026 Guide To: Best Things to Do This Summer in Asheville & The Blue Ridge Mountains” guide will be posted on Sunday, May 31, 2026. Every guide is posted on:
Instagram Feed (@travelguidesasheville)
Instagram Stories
Facebook (@travelguidesasheville)
Website (added to our home page through summer, remains on our site forever! (www.travelguidesasheville.com)
Pinterest (@travelguidesasheville)
Tik Tok (@travelguidesasheville)
NEW: YouTube (@travelguidesasheville)
Posting Dates & Deadlines:
This guide will be posted on Travel Guides Asheville’s Instagram & website on Sunday, May 31, 2026.
*Applications close Tuesday, May 26th at 11 PM.
*Approvals will be sent on a rolling basis and by the latest Wednesday, May 27th. To keep this guide accessible and well-balanced, we’ll be reviewing applications in phases and confirming spots as space allows.
*One-Time Payment of $550 (or approved flexible rate) is due within 24 business hours of approval to guarantee your spot.
FAQ
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You’ll submit 4 photos for the Instagram version of the guide — plus you’re welcome to include additional photos for the website version, where we can now feature a full gallery!
Your business name, Instagram handle, and physical location address (if applicable) will be included as well!
The guide - as posted on our website - also includes a button that links to your business website (not included on Instagram, TikTok, or Pinterest versions of the guide).
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No, Travel Guides Asheville is currently an online-only travel guide!
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No. It’s a one-time fee to be included in the guide. The guide then remains available forever!
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The guide stays on our website for 1 year, and on socials (Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok, Youtube, Threads) as a permanent post.
Bonus? For up to a year after the guide is posted, we frequently re-share it into our Instagram stories + include it in our Link in Bio. This reminds our audience (and new followers) what guides we have available on our page!
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No! The application is free and payment will only be due after you have been approved. One you receive your approval email, you then have 24 hours to check out and submit payment.
Your spot is held during this time, and once you submit payment you are guaranteed your spot.
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There are so many benefits to working with us!
Think of Travel Guides Asheville as being your personal marketing team - we love supporting the businesses & individuals we work with. Here are some of the benefits of participating in a guide feature:
• You will be presented in front of our Asheville-based audience, across each of our channels - all of which are popular among locals & visitors to the area! Our guides also make a great reference point. For example, when someone asks, “Who are the best wedding photographers in the area?”, our followers (or anyone who has seen the list) can easily share the applicable guide.
• Our approach also takes social media SEO into consideration. By using strategic keywords, our Instagram posts are indexed by Google Search and added to search results to offer you added visibility to an even wider audience.
• Another way we get you in front of your key target audience and potential clients is through our involvement in the popular Facebook Communities/Groups for Asheville. It is common to see visitors and locals alike popping into these Facebook groups to ask questions. For example, a user may post, "Who's a great wedding photographer based in Asheville?" We actively monitor these groups, sharing relevant guides to help answer questions and promote our featured businesses and individuals.
• Across all our channels and social media engagement, we continually prioritize those who have worked with us - especially as it relates to sharing content you tag us in on Instagram! We love to share local businesses and entrepreneurs in our IG stories whenever we can. That's what we're all about - supporting local! You now have a forever social media support team - tag us in your posts or your stories and we will re-share with our audience, even long after the guide has posted. We also try to keep an eye on your page and comment, save, share, and like your posts, too!
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• You pick the photos that are included in the guide! We feature four photos on each business's page in the Instagram version of the guide. You’ll find this information in the form you fill out before checking out/submitting payment.
• Your business’s Instagram @ name is shared on your page of the guide and in the caption/description section. This way viewers can easily find you on social media and check out your page!
• Wanting more backlinks to your website? When a guide is posted on our website, we have a clickable button under each businesses featured section that links to their website.
• Questions about SEO? A ton of work behind the scenes goes into to making sure our guides appear in Google results and Pinterest/Facebook/Instagram searches. SEO Titles, navigation titles, keywords, tags and categories, site and page descriptions, image names, alt. text, etc. are all part of our process for SEO.
• Insights after 21 days of the guide posting date are sent to your email. This way you can see how well the post performed on all of our social platforms!