Major UK conference client event secured for 2022

Glasgow will host a major UK conference client event in July 2022 at the SEC. The Convention Bureau worked with VisitScotland and the SEC on a bid to host The Conference & Incentive Travel (C&IT) Festival of Forums that will spotlight Glasgow and Scotland’s business events credentials to approximately 150 agency, corporate and association clients who attend this popular educational conference sales event. The C&IT Festival of Forums will run from 27 – 29 July 2022 at the SEC with opportunities for Scotland’s conference events industry to participate in the programme.

Conference wins

From 1 April 2021 – 28 February 2022 the Conventions sales team, working closely with city partners, has secured 66 new conferences for future years, attracting over 33,000 delegates, and delivering a projected £50 million economic benefit from delegate spend. For more information visit Glasgow Convention Bureau

The re-start of conferences for Glasgow

The Scottish Grocers Federation, held on 16 September 2021 at the Crowne Plaza, was the city’s first in-person conference since the pandemic began, supported by the Glasgow Convention Bureau team. The conference attracted 100 delegates, who had the opportunity to hear from guest speaker, the First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon.

IBTM World 2021

Glasgow Convention Bureau represented Glasgow on the VisitScotland exhibition stand, alongside city partner SEC, at IBTM World 2021 in Barcelona. The event, which took place from 30 November – 2 December 2021, is well established as one of the leading trade shows for the meetings, incentives, conferences, events and business travel industry.

Aye Write and Wee Write - May/June 2021

The 16th edition of Aye Write took place online, bringing the book festival to audiences across the world to enjoy in the comfort of their own homes. Wee Write is Glasgow’s Book Festival for children and young people which followed the main book festival online in June. Aye Write is back from 6-22 May 2022.

Glasgow International – June 2021

Glasgow International (GI) 2021 was one of the first in-person festivals to take place in Scotland post-Covid. The Festival had excellent attendances at exhibitions and events across the city, and very positive feedback from artists and audience members. There were 150 artists and contributors, 44 in person exhibitions, with a further 24 taking place online.

UEFA EURO 2020 – June/July 2021

UEFA EURO 2020 was co-hosted across 11 countries with Glasgow hosting four matches at Hampden Park. The UEFA EURO 2020 Glasgow Fan Zone was a significant step forward for the restart of the event sector with the city taking centre stage. The Fan Zone Festival, at Glasgow Green, allowed visitors to enjoy the sights, sounds and excitement of live entertainment for 23 days with everything from contemporary and traditional music, comedy and drag nights to cinema, dance and family entertainment. Cultural events took place on days when there were no matches and sport activations enabled some of our young people, clubs and citizens to return to playing for the first time in 16 months.

Merchant City Festival – July 2021

Merchant City Festival enjoyed a welcome return to the city. Tickets were available for a range of free outdoor performances at George Square and Barrowland Park. The carnival party kicked the festival off in style on Thursday, with artwork installations, stilt walkers and dancers dotted around the streets of Merchant City celebrating Baroque Venetian carnival traditions.

Glasgow Mela – September 2021

The live element of the Glasgow Mela made a welcome return with a fantastic range of acts across the day, at Kelvingrove Bandstand, from Indian classical dancers to dynamic and upbeat music from a collective of DJs, MCs, and musical performers. A digital element followed the event.

Glasgow international piping festival – Piping Live!

In August 2021, Piping Live! celebrated a welcome return and successful 18th year welcoming around 1,200 attendees in-person to Festival performances and streaming 52 events to 10,000 fans from 20 countries across the globe. The festival had a nine-day run of jam-packed world class performances, competitions, music sessions, recitals, book launches and workshops, all celebrating Scotland’s thriving piping scene. Piping Live! will return 6-14 August 2022.

All Scotland Championships in Irish Dancing – October 2021

Glasgow once again welcomed over 950 competitors from across the world to the All Scotland Championships in Irish Dancing event staged at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall.

After the Pandemic – November 2021

Strathclyde Students Union was the location for the free, open to all, fringe event, After the Pandemic delivered during COP26. The programme delivered various elements including workshops, performances and interactive sessions. Highlights included working with LEGO and Creative Bravery (Build the Change); performances of Under the Bridge and working with Celtic Connections to programme Celtic music.

Scottish Open Badminton Championships – November 2021

The third oldest tournament in world badminton returned in 2021, with over 400 elite athletes from across the globe competing in the Scottish Open Badminton Championships at the Emirates Arena from 25 – 28 November 2021.

Netball International Series December 2021

Scottish Thistles, Scotland’s national netball team, celebrated their return to Glasgow’s Emirates Arena with an action-packed test series against Bajan Gems in December. The international series was the first netball matches back at the Emirates Arena since the pandemic began.

Vitality Super league pre-season warm up - December 2021

The Emirates Arena hosted one of the Vitality Netball Super league’s first pre-season fixtures on 5 December 2021 – Strathclyde Sirens versus Leeds Rhinos. It was the first time Strathclyde Sirens fans were able to watch the home team live on home soil since early 2020.

Celtic Connections – January/February 2022

The 29th edition of the UK’s premiere celebration of roots music pivoted to a hybrid approach, preserving the 18-day festival and successfully staging around 60 spectacular in-person concerts. An online programme, which ran until 16 February, was enjoyed by thousands of viewers online from 31 countries around the world. Celtic Connections will return for its 30th anniversary edition from 19 January to 5 February 2023.

Dynamic New Athletics – February 2022

European Athletics, Glasgow Life, and EventScotland teamed up to deliver the Dynamic New Athletics (DNA) Indoor at the Emirates Arena on Saturday 5 February 2022. The DNA event is a mixed-gender, fast-paced, short and compact team athletics event which takes place over two hours. The event showcased a new format of men and women competing together in athletics with Scotland, England, Wales and Ireland taking on teams from Spain and Turkey. The six teams competed, at the Emirates Arena, across ten disciplines to be crowned the Dynamic New Athletics Indoor Champions 2022.

Glasgow Film Festival – March 2022

The eighteenth edition of the Glasgow Film Festival returned to in-person screenings including ten world premieres, four European premieres, 65 UK premieres and 13 Scottish premieres. The event also hosted a five day industry event hosting panels and workshops for the film industry from across the UK.

Glasgow International Comedy Festival - March 2022

The 19th Glasgow International Comedy Festival burst back into life for three weeks. The festival showcased the best of Scottish and UK talent across Glasgow’s venues, bars and comedy clubs with over 97 planned shows.

Sonica – March 2022

One of the world’s largest celebrations of visual sonic art, the tenth edition of Sonica showcased a ground-breaking international programme of 200 events by over 85 artists from ten countries across the city include at the CCA and Tramway.

Year of Coasts and Waters 20/21

Scotland’s Year of Coasts and Waters took place across 2020 and 2021. Glasgow events which received Themed Year funding through VisitScotland include:

• Vision Mechanics – Storm (at Celtic Connections 2020 then on tour 2021)
• A film to celebrate Clydebuilt Festival
• Launch! On the Sea with Scotland’s Lifeboats (touring film in 2021)
• Rowaround Scotland (touring coastal rowing event in 2021)
• Glasgow Canal Festival 2021

Year of Stories 2022

Scotland’s Year of Stories will provide opportunities to engage locals and visitors to discover, celebrate and share stories of Scotland. A programme of events will be delivered with VisitScotland funding support. A selection of the Glasgow events announced so far include:

• Celtic Connections presents “Whisper the Song”
• Fables at the Stables
• Home Fae Home
• Mining seams and drawing wells: a living archive for Easterhouse
• Stories of our People, Place and Planet

Find out more about how you can get involved in Scotland’s Year of Stories 2022 in the Themed Year marketing toolkit.

Upcoming events

World Double Squash Championships – April 2022

Scotland will host the WSF World Doubles Squash Championships for the first time in April this year, after Scottish Squash was awarded the tournament by the World Squash Federation. The 2022 World Doubles - which was postponed last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic - will feature countries from around the world competing in Men’s, Women’s and Mixed events in Glasgow Life’s Scotstoun Leisure Centre.

Tissot Track Nations Cup – April 2022

Glasgow's Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome will host the opening round of the Tissot UCI Track Nations Cup. The event will be the first elite-level international track cycling event to be held at the velodrome since December 2019 and will bring together the best riders in the world as the Great Britain Cycling Team fine-tune their preparations for a host of premier track cycling events, including the 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships. Visit the event website.

UCI BMX Racing World Cup – May 2022

Glasgow will play host rounds one and two of the UCI BMX Racing World Cup on 28 and 29 May, as Olympic heroes Beth Shriever and Kye Whyte embark on their path to Paris 2024.This will be the first international BMX event to take place in the city since the 2018 European Championships, where Kyle Evans and Kye Whyte secured a famous British one-two in front of a raucous home crowd.

The event will once again take place at the Glasgow BMX Centre, which will also host the BMX events at the 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships and is a base to a variety of clubs including the Western Titans BMX club, Glasgow Riderz and Movement Park, as well as schools and emerging new community groups from across Scotland.

Glasgow also plays host to a number of externally owned and managed events that attract significant numbers of visitors to the city and create substantial economic impact and media profile. In 2021, these included the return of TRNSMT Festival; concerts and events held at the SEC and the OVO Hydro; GlasGLOW and Elfingrove.