This update includes:
Welcome to the first regional update of the year. In this update, we look back at our key activity in the last quarter of 2022. Our industry continues to adjust to tough new financial circumstances and it's clear that these will continue to impact in the year ahead. But there is much to build on and we remain committed to doing what we can to support the industry, whether that’s bringing people to Scotland, offering support and guidance to businesses, or creating opportunities for growth and investment.
Our marketing, funding and business support activities are all aimed at building on these shoots of recovery to support the responsible growth of our industry.
It has been a busy period in Glasgow – working with city partners to develop the new tourism and visitor strategy and supporting the delivery of the UCI Cycling World Championships taking place in August.
Find out more in this update on how our work is helping to support the ambitions of the national tourism strategy, Scotland Outlook 2030, for Scotland to be a world leader in 21st century tourism.
In November, we launched our updated Set in Scotland film guide. The 52-page guide, exploring big-screen locations across Scotland, includes more than 150 films and features over 20 films shot in Glasgow as well as four films shot in Inverclyde, East Renfrewshire and Cumbernauld. Download the Set in Scotland guide.
Funded by Renfrewshire Council, we delivered a four-week paid social campaign to raise awareness and drive online traffic to the Halloween Festival events page. We supported this activity with content on visitscotland.com and in our October 2022 email to Scottish subscribers. The campaign exceeded expectations and over 43,700 visits were made to the events page via the paid social adverts.
This campaign highlights 'kids for a quid' tickets with Scotrail and entry to participating attractions in Glasgow City Region. Running until the end of March, check out the toolkit on how you can submit an offer to attract more visitors.
Check out new content added to visitscotland.com featuring Glasgow City Region:
Our Corporate PR team works closely with Scottish and UK media to raise awareness of our work to promote Scotland and Glasgow City to visitors and support for the industry.
Some of our highlights include:
In December 2022, winter festivals in Glasgow including Elfingrove and Glasgow Loves Christmas were featured by four Chinese publications with a collective reach of over 2.5 million readers.
Glasgow Women's Library and Root of Magic were included in the Witch Trail, which throughout October - November was covered by a wide variety of trade, consumer and news outlets across the markets we work with. Some example coverage includes:
In December, our multimedia team captured some stunning images of Glasgow's Christmas lights and markets. Check out some of these images and make sure to visit our digital media library if you'd like access to free content to help promote Scotland and your region as a tourism destination.
Our Glasgow iCentre staff work in the heart of the city centre on Buchanan Street and help visitors to have the best possible experience whilst visiting. Some of the highlights for our iCentre Glasgow staff between October and December include:
Although visitors would like to have seen a Hogmanay event and better Christmas market offerings, many visitors continue to comment on the city's friendliness, and the quality of Scottish products available to buy in the iCentre.
Two sisters came into the iCentre - one of them had flown in from Canada for the first time in a long time. She commented on how good the city was looking and how helpful the staff were in the iCentre. She misses that interaction and warm Scottish welcome.
This August, the 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships will be hosted in Glasgow and across Scotland. Combining 13 cycling events into one mega event, the Championships will be the biggest cycling event in history. Glasgow will host the majority of the events and venues including the Emirates Arena, Kelvingrove Park, Glasgow BMX Centre and George Square will welcome some of the world's best cycling athletes across the 10 days.
To find out more about the event, visit the UCI Cycling World Championships website.
Good luck to Scottish Event Campus, Once Upon a Whisky, Glasgow Life (Celtic Connections) and The Scottish Football Association representing the local organising structure for UEFA EURO 2020, all Thistle Award finalists from Glasgow City Region.
All regional winners will go on to compete at the Scottish Thistle Awards National Final on 9 February 2023 at Edinburgh International Conference Centre.
Regional Thistle Winners. Image credit - Chris Watt Photography.
You can browse all the 2022/2023 National Finalists on the Scottish Thistle Awards website.
Glasgow City Region on social media
2.89 million reach
Number of times Greater Glasgow content reached people on social media
+173,000 engagements
Number of reactions, likes, comments, shares and saves on Greater Glasgow posts
Reach of +316,000
Top performing post by reach was a wintry shot at Mauldslie Bridge in Lanarkshire on Instagram