Tourist spending hits a high
RECORD visitors spent more than £300 million in Glasgow.
New figures show nearly 800,000 tourists visited the city last year, which was a rise of 20 per cent, and spending rose by more than a third to £319m.
Events such as Celtic Connections, the World Pipe Band Championships and sporting events are being credited for helping fuel the rise.
TOURISM leaders in Glasgow have welcomed figures showing the city attracted record numbers of international visitors and spending soared.
The city welcomed 787,000 tourists last year, a rise of a fifth, while spending rose by more than a third to £319 million – both record levels for the city.
Events such as Celtic Connections, the World Pipe Band Championships and sporting events are being credited for helping fuel the rise in visitors last year, which was above Scotland’s growth as a whole.
The majority of international tourists came from Europe (400,000) and North America (218,000), with five nights the average stay.
The figures come from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) travel trends survey published earlier this month and have now been analysed by city tourism leaders.
Glasgow Life said international conferences and conventions had also contributed to the tourism boost.
The city’s growth was above Scotland as a whole, with figures for 2017 showing there was a 17 per cent rise in the number of overseas visitors to 3.2 million, with spending up 23 per cent to £2.3 billion.
Councillor David McDonald, chair of Glasgow Life and deputy leader of the city council, said: “Attracting more international visitors through creative marketing and inspirational content is at the heart of Glasgow’s tourism plan. As we prepare to welcome thousands of tourists from across Europe over the next two weeks to the first-ever European Championships, our priority now is to ensure that Glasgow messaging remains front of mind this year and beyond, and that we continue to capitalise on the interest in the city that we know exists globally at present.”
Malcolm Roughead, chief executive of VisitScotland, said: “Tourism is the heartbeat of the Scottish economy and touches every community; generating income, jobs and social change. The results of this rise in overseas tourism to Glasgow will see ripple effects across the city and beyond.”
Stuart Patrick, chief executive of Glasgow Chamber of Commerce, added: “Growing Glasgow’s tourism was always an important goal of delivering the Commonwealth Games, and the aim of the tourism plan is clear – an extra one million visitors to the city each year, boosting the economy and bringing jobs.”
It comes after figures showed two of Glasgow’s biggest visitor attractions welcomed a record number of tourists last year.
Glasgow Cathedral recorded a 36 per cent boom in numbers while the People’s Palace saw a 19 per cent increase.
Overall, Scotland’s top visitor attractions have “outperformed” the rest of the UK for the sixth year running.
For the first time in four years, the most visited attractions outside London were in Scotland, where two attractions welcomed more than two million visitors.