The South of Scotland Destination Alliance (SSDA) has launched its ‘Scotland Starts Here’ campaign to attract more visitors to the Scottish Borders, Dumfries, and Galloway during winter.
The campaign has launched alongside 14 branded destination videos highlighting the diversity of the South of Scotland’s tourism offering across the region. Promoted through SSDA’s consumer-facing platform, ‘Scotland Starts Here‘, the campaign will run until March 2025.
Designed with feedback from tourism and hospitality businesses in the South of Scotland, the campaign includes a series of advertorials on Reach PLC titles, digital advertisements, social media activity across Scotland Starts Here channels, and a series of press trips to showcase the region’s winter offer. A competition will also run to win a short stay in the South of Scotland.
This initiative is part of SSDA’s ongoing efforts to support tourism and hospitality businesses by promoting the South of Scotland as a year-round destination, reflecting the South of Scotland’s Responsible Tourism Strategy 2024-2034, which aims to extend the season and encourage longer stays.
The campaign builds on awareness generated in recent years, including National Geographic Traveller (UK) naming the Galloway and Southern Ayrshire Biosphere, Scotland’s first UNESCO Biosphere, as the only Scottish destination in its renowned global Cool List 2024, as well as Lonely Planet selecting the South of Scotland as one of its Best in Travel destinations of 2023.
The campaign launch follows the news that the South of Scotland Destination Alliance has hit its 2025 Covid recovery targets of a £750m visitor economy supporting 14,000 jobs, two and half years early.
The Scottish Government funds the SSDA through South of Scotland Enterprise and its 660+ business members. It works to develop the South of Scotland as a world-class visitor destination and support tourism businesses to succeed sustainably and responsibly.
Vanessa Wegstein, Marketing Manager at SSDA said, “The South of Scotland has so much to offer in the winter months, from our stunning landscapes and rich literary heritage to the myriad local events and flourishing food and drink scene – and we want to encourage visitors to explore the region outside of the peak summer season, and to relax and recharge through becoming fully immersed in the region.
“Following the success of our previous campaigns promoting cycling and Dark Skies in the region, to name a few, we are confident that we can continue to develop the South of Scotland as a year-round destination – Scotland starts here!”
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