Glasgow Tourism strategy

  • Tourists on Millennium Bridge
  • The Tall Ship on the River Clyde
  • Merchant City Festival performers attracting visitors to the Broomielaw

Project History
Click an image to enlarge

  • Fastlink will connect city centre to attractions west of the city, image by GCC
  • Glasgow River Festival attracting visitors and tourists to the riverbank
  • Aerial view of the new Riverside Museum
  • Merchant City Festival performers attracting crowds on the Broomielaw
  • Inside the newly refurbished Grand Central Hotel
  • The Tall Ship on the River Clyde
  • Attractions on the Clyde including the Glasgow Science Centre and boat trips
  • Shoppers on Buchanan Street

Location:

Clyde-wide

Description:

Glasgow's Tourism Strategy includes the ambitious target of attracting an additional one million visitors a year by 2016.

While the strategy is Glasgow-wide, Clyde Waterfront has a central position in the plans for growth in tourism. Scotland's new SECC National Arena on the River Clyde will play an important part in the development of tourism, as large-scale events are seen as one of the key areas where tourism can grow.  The indoor arena will be one of the key venues used in the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.  The development of the Riverside Museum is also expected to boost tourism. Many of the new hotels which are already at the planning stages are in the Clyde Waterfront area.

Strategic targets for tourism in Glasgow:

  • to deliver a minimum growth of 60% in tourist revenue with a target of achieving 80%
  • grow tourism-related employment to 40,000
  • increase capacity by 3,000 premier hotel bedrooms

4 key themes underpin the tourism targets.

1. Image and Brand: a positive and unique image is a key influencer.
2. People: Glasgow's citizens are the city's greatest asset and must benefit from tourism's growth.
3. Place: place attractiveness, accessibility and quality of environment are competitive drivers for a successful tourism destination.
4. Product: this must be fresh, distinctive, innovative and appealing to target markets.

Glasgow's Tourism Strategy to 2016 has been  produced by a partnership comprising Glasgow City Council, Glasgow City Marketing Bureau, Scottish Enterprise Glasgow and VisitScotland Glasgow.

Current status:

Timescale:

The Tourism Strategy is a plan to 2016