Growing the North American market in the South of Scotland

A key route to growing our visitor economy by £1bn in the South of Scotland Responsible Tourism Strategy, is increasing our destination's market share of higher spending international visitors, especially from North America.On the 19th June 2025 the SSDA hosted a roundtable meeting with key South of Scotland businesses with existing strong North American markets, agreeing five areas of joint working:

1) Destination marketing partnership: Have a coordinated and collaborative approach to reaching target audiences in North America, building on existing learning/activity, with a clear, cohesive and compelling message about the South of Scotland which inspires increased booking.

2) Ancestry, history and heritage: Have a coordinated approach to increasing genealogy tourism, providing information, itineraries, content and signposting to reach out to the Scottish-US diaspora with a clear product and a warm, welcoming messaging, inspiring them to ‘come home’ and rediscover their clan homelands.

3) Travel trade: Engage, inform and inspire the international inbound travel trade, offering clear, bookable, long-range product which they can adopt, tailor and sell.

4) Product development: Strengthen the South of Scotland’s product/offering, in line with the priorities and expectations of the North American market, addressing the current gaps and issues in the destination.

5) Link to existing SSDA/SSH content and planned work: Ensure that visitor economy businesses with a North American market are actively involved in the SSDA/Scotland Starts Here and are benefitting from the activity, content and support available.

Read full outcomes from the 19th June session here

We specifically invite South of Scotland businesses with existing North American markets, or strong potential to expand into this higher-spending market, to join us for a digital meeting to discuss next steps:

On Monday 29th September there will be a major announcement for our destination which will represent a significant step forwards in our ability to attract higher-spending international visitors, especially from North America.

We will contact all SSDA members as soon as this is public.

This digital meeting on the 7th October will be a chance to give more detail on the SSDA's work in this area, to discuss how we maximise wider benefit from this announcement, and to agree tangible next steps in growing the number of North American visitors to the South of Scotland.

Book your place now.