Foreword

Progress to recovery - a look back on the actions delivered by Glasgow’s tourism partners April – June 2022 As partners, we have collated a round-up of the actions delivered over the past three months to aid Glasgow’s recovery. This report lists the actions aligned to the four pillars of the Glasgow Tourism and Visitor Plan; our shared cultural city, developing innovative and competitive products, supporting seamless journeys, and building on events, both business and leisure, with two guiding principles at their heart: sustainability and shared responsibility.

Highlights from the 1 April to 30 June include the welcome return of conferences to our city. Glasgow venues hosted 60 in-person conferences attracting over 31,000 delegates, with an associated spend of over £43 million.

The results are in from Glasgow Life’s Destination Marketing team on the success of the international tourism campaign with Expedia, read on to find out more about the campaign results, as well as an update on the Spring activity, with The Burrell Collection as the focus. In February, ‘Glasgow Music Nonstop’ was launched to showcase the energy and vibrancy of the city’s unrivalled music offer, and position Glasgow as a first-choice short break destination for music fans. The campaign has been very successful, you can find out more inside.

This spring has seen the return of events to the city including World Double Squash Championships (April), the UCI BMX Racing World Cup (May), the Dandelion Festival (June) which brought 44,000 people into Kelvingrove Park and Glasgow Mela (June), a wonderful multi-cultural festival bringing music, dance, arts, and vibrancy to the heart of Glasgow’s west end. Confirmation of a return to in-person events for many of the city's annual programme was also welcomed. This month the Merchant City Festival (July) is back for a long weekend of entertainment. In August, Piping Live!, now in its 19th year, annually attracts over 30,000 attendees while the World Pipe Band Championships are expected to see thousands compete at Glasgow Green.

With a focus on London to Glasgow midweek travel, VisitScotland and Avanti delivered a joint funded campaign from March to May. Activity included out of home activity with a Magic Mirror augmented reality experience located in Westfield Shopping Centre in London over two days which was visited by almost nine thousand people. In addition, there was digital display activity using Glasgow videos created by VisitScotland featuring locations such as the city centre mural trail and paid social adverts all linking to a dedicated landing page on visitscotland.com with a focus on Glasgow content.

Through their Collaboration Fund, Experience Glasgow Food & Drink have continued to work with businesses to encourage and support new and exciting bookable products launching this Summer. Their consumer marketing campaign, 'Made in Glasgow' also saw 63 businesses take part to raise awareness and drive footfall for the city’s food and drink sector.

Moving forward, the Glasgow Tourism Partnership hopes that everyone approaches the next phase of the Action Plan by looking for the part they can play in restoring our great city to success.

Wishing you all good business over the coming summer months. Peter Lederer Chair, Glasgow Tourism Partnership