Through better integrated – and more imaginative – use of digital technology, a collaboration has been created to support tourism and hospitality across the Southern Scotland region.

SSDA, a destination management and marketing organization, and TTS have formed a strategic relationship to help tourism and hospitality businesses recover from the effects of Covid-19 and expand sustainably in the months and years ahead.

The Scottish Borders and Dumfries & Galloway Tourism Association (SSDA) aspires to attract more vacationers from Scotland, other parts of the UK, and outside to the Scottish Borders and Dumfries & Galloway.

It will collaborate on many projects across the region with TTS, which brings together travel tech companies and Scotland's tourism and hospitality industry to assist the economy recover, rebuild, and thrive in the long run. The cooperation will concentrate on four key areas to promote recovery and growth.

The first is 'Traveltech Collectives,' which provides SSDA members with affordable access to shared digital expertise and resources; the second is 'accessing and using data for decision-making,' which involves working with Scottish universities to help tourism and hospitality businesses better understand and drill down into useful tourism data.

The fourth theme is 'innovation,' which will allow tourism enterprises in the South of Scotland to securely experiment with emerging technologies such as NFTs, blockchain, IoT, and sensors. Finally, SMEs will have access to online learning, which will allow them to build and improve their customers' journeys through an interactive, practical online course that they can complete on their own time.

"Travel and tourism are crucial to economic growth across the South of Scotland, from coast to coast," said Ross McAuley, Chief Executive of the SSDA. Given the impact of the pandemic on enterprises of all kinds in this sector, as well as communities, the effective use of innovative digital technologies can help improve long-term recovery and growth.

"By partnering with Traveltech for Scotland, we'll be able to provide a wide range of digital technology-related products and services to our SSDA member firms and individuals interested in tourism in the area simply and cost-effectively."

"Digital technology has fundamentally revolutionized tourism in the South of Scotland over the last 20 years," said Joshua Ryan-Saha, Director of Traveltech for Scotland. However, we are usually playing catch-up or attempting to avoid missing out on the next tool or platform.

"Tourism technology innovation shouldn't be limited to faraway tech centers. We will work with the SSDA to assist Scotland's tourist and hospitality industries in taking more risky measures, such as being the first to adopt and innovate with new digital technology."

"At South of Scotland Enterprise, our ambition is for our region to become a center of opportunity, innovation, and growth," Jane Morrison-Ross, Chief Executive Officer, said.

"With tourism worth over £600 million to the south of Scotland each year, a thriving and innovative tourism industry is critical to realizing this ambition." This is why the announcement of a new relationship between SSDA and Traveltech is so exciting.

"SOSE is committed to working with SSDA, VisitScotland, and the councils of Dumfries and Galloway and the Scottish Borders to help the South of Scotland become a top tourist destination for tourists from Scotland, the UK, and beyond."