Key Facts
Tourism
The foundation of Glasgow’s success is built to a large extent on major events. These have had a positive impact on the City and include the opening of the Burrell Collection in 1983, the Glasgow Garden Festival in 1988, the designation as European Capital of Culture in 1990 and the UK City of Architecture and Design 1999 which generated nearly 200,000 additional visitors and £21 million visitor expenditure. More recent events have tended to be smaller in scale, lasting anywhere between 1 day and 1 month. Examples include:
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Glasgow River Festival 2008 attracted 84,000 visitors and generated around £1.5 million for the Glasgow economy
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Glasgow International Festival of Contemporary Visual Art 2008 attracted nearly 13,000 visitors and generated and economic impact of nearly £0.9 million
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World Pipe Band Championships 2008 attracted 40,000 visitors and generated around £6.9 million
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UEFA Cup Final 2007 at Hampden Park had an estimated £15 million benefit for the local economy
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The Mackintosh Festival attracted around 50,000 visitors and generated £5.6 million in 2006
In addition to the above events, there are numerous music and literary events held annually in the City, such as the successful international Celtic Connections festival. Of key importance is the fact that many of the visitors coming to Glasgow for the first time to attend these events are likely to return in the future.
UK tourists made 1.8 million trips to Glasgow in 2007, representing about 14% of all UK trips taken in Scotland. The average length of stay was 2.4 nights, resulting in a total of 4.35 million bednights and generating expenditure of £393 million. Around 26% of overseas tourist trips to Scotland included an overnight visit to Glasgow (0.75 million). Overseas tourists spent an average of 6 nights in Glasgow in 2007, resulting in a total of 4.5 million bednights and generating £244 million expenditure. The key overseas markets for Glasgow are the USA, Germany, France and the Republic of Ireland, but the number of visitors coming from accession countries is growing.
Hotel Accommodation
There has been a 12% increase in visitor beds in the last 2 years. There are now 8,239 hotel bedrooms available within a 10 mile radius of the City Centre. The total room stock for the Greater Glasgow and Clyde Valley area, including all types of accommodation, is over 17,000. Despite this increase, occupancy of Glasgow hotels rose to over 74% in 2008. An exciting addition to the city’s hotel stock will be the Jumeirah 5 star deluxe hotel, scheduled to open in 2011. This will be the fifth hotel in Europe operated by the Dubai-based luxury group and operator of the famous Burj Al Arab. The hotel, to be located in Glasgow’s financial district, will have 160 rooms, 85 serviced apartments, a rooftop cocktail lounge, a 630 seat ballroom, restaurants and bars.
Tourism Strategy
Around 28% of all visitors to Glasgow come for business purposes. The City is currently ranked 22nd in the world for the number of international delegates hosted. To build on this success, the Council and other key partners have developed the Glasgow Tourism Strategy to help deliver three strategic objectives over the next 10 years:
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to deliver minimum growth of 60% in revenue generated by tourists, with an elevated target of 80% growth - this higher target will bring about significant change in Glasgow’s performance and will mean that in 2016 the City could welcome 4 million tourists
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increase tourism employment to 40,000
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increase hotel capacity by 3,000 bedrooms
The Strategy is complemented by the Tourism Action Plan (launched in March 2009) which sets out the specific activities and actions to help meet these targets. For more information go to:
glasgow's tourism policy framework and
see glasgow news archive
glasgow tourism downloads
Museums and Galleries
Culture and Sport Glasgow, on behalf of the Council, manages a significant portfolio of museums and galleries. These house collections of international significance and attract over 3 million visits every year. They include:
- Kelvingrove Museum and Art Gallery, the first Museum in Glasgow to be awarded the Visit Scotland 5-star rating, remains Scotland’s most visited attraction following its £35 million refurbishment. A new global survey of museums and galleries placed Kelvingrove 14 in the world, ahead of the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam
- The Burrell Collection was gifted to the city by wealthy ship owner Sir William Burrell in 1944. The building, built in 1983 in Pollok Country Park, houses pieces from Sir William’s private collection including artworks from Ancient Rome, Greece and China, medieval tapestries and paintings by Degas and Rembrandt. Pollok House, the magnificent 18th-century home of the Maxwell family, houses an important collection of Spanish art
- Glasgow‘s Museum of Transport displays collections of transport and travel in a family-friendly way
- The People’s Palace on Glasgow Green celebrates Glasgow’s social history, focussing on the way in which ordinary Glaswegians have lived since the late 19th century
- St Mungo’s Museum of Religious Life and Art is the first museum in the UK to explore the world’s major faiths. It is situated in one of the most historic areas of Glasgow, adjacent to the medieval Glasgow Cathedral, Provand’s Lordship (Glasgow’s oldest building, dating from the 1470’s) and Glasgow Necropolis
- The work of Glasgow’s famous architect, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, can be seen in Scotland Street School Museum. Built in 1906, it captures the atmosphere of schooldays from the Victorian era through to the present
- The Open Museum works with sections of the community that do not, or cannot, visit museums (e.g. through touring exhibitions to community groups and the loan of handling kits)
- With less than 2% of Glasgow Museums’ collection being able to be displayed at any one time, Glasgow Museums Resource Centre acts as the city’s first publicly accessible museum storage facility
There are also a number of other museums, galleries and visitor attractions in Glasgow, including:
- Collins Gallery
- Hunterian Art Gallery and Museum
- Tenement House
- The Tall Ship
Performing Arts, Visual Arts and Venues
The performing arts and visual arts and have always played an important role in Glasgow’s cultural development. Glasgow’s international standing in the art world has never been higher, with the emergence of a number of important new artists over the past two decades. The Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA), Tramway, and the Centre for Contemporary Arts provide opportunities to see art from Glasgow and the rest of the world, and the city also accommodates several concert halls and theatres. The Lighthouse, Scotland’s Centre for Architecture, Design and the City, combines exhibition space, education resources, conference space and the Mackintosh Interpretation Centre. In 2007/08, Culture and Sport Glasgow managed a £3 million arts funding budget which helped to support projects over 200 organisations.
Glasgow has a number of high profile venues that allow it to compete globally for events. Following a major refurbishment programme, Tramway re-opened in June 2000 and is now considered one of the leading contemporary arts venues in Europe. From 2009, it will also be home to Scottish Ballet. The City Halls and Old Fruitmarket reopened in January 2006, and are now home to the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, the Council’s Music Education Services, the Scottish Music Centre and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra.
Glasgow hosts a growing range of performing arts, visual arts, literary and music festivals including Aye Write, Celtic Connections and the Jazz Festival.
Projects
Museum of Transport
A new home for the Museum of Transport, called the Riverside Museum, opens in 2011. The Tall Ship 'Glenlee' will move to the same location on the Clyde. The existing Museum of Transport closes in spring 2010.
Glasgow Museums Resource Centre
The Resource Centre (located in South Nitshill) is closed to the public while extension work is carried out but re-opens in autumn 2009. Once reopened, visitors and other users will be able to book guided tours and enjoy workshops and activities led by the onsite Learning and Access team.
Trongate 103
Trongate 103 is a cluster of eight visual arts organisations within a refurbished Edwardian warehouse in the Merchant City. The project will provide facilities for these organisations when it opens to the public in 2009.
The Briggait
The Briggait building (also in the Merchant City) is being refurbished and will house studios and spaces for creative industry practitioners in its first phase, due to open late 2009. A second phase will create a dance and physical theatre centre to support a range of performing arts.
2014 Commonwealth Games
In November 2007, Glasgow was successful in securing the 2014 Commonwealth Games, and work is in progress to ensure the Games achieve a legacy that will contribute to wider economic, health, tourism, and community objectives.
Useful Links
Glasgow - Scotland with Style
Visit Scotland
National Trust
The Tall Ship
Glasgow 2014