Welcome to the latest regional update for Glasgow City Region covering July - December 2023. Find out how we've been supporting and promoting tourism in the area.
Article published 31/01/2024
Hello from Lynne Cooper, Regional Director for Glasgow City Region
I've now been in my role for almost 3 months and it's been a pleasure to get out and about to meet stakeholders and hear about developments and plans across the region. Whilst there will be continued challenges for the industry in the year ahead, there is also a lot to look forward to.
In the city centre, there will be big birthday's for two of Glasgow's signature annual festivals - Celtic Connections marks its 30th anniversary in Janaury and in March, we celebrate 20 years of the Glasgow Film Festival with another colourful programme of red carpet events.
After a successful summer of world-leading events in 2023, with the inaugural UCI Cycling World Championships and the recording-breaking Banksy exhbition, Glasgow will host our next prestigous sporting event with the World Indoor Athletics Championships in March and we'll see the return of our binenniual contemporary arts festival, Glasgow International, in June.
In the short term, we're working hard with businesses and partners to coordinate a high-quality City Region representation to the global travel trade at VisitScotland Connect in Abderdeen in April. Feedback from the 2023 event was outstanding, so businesses attending have a great opportuity to make new business and leads for a prosperus year in 2025 too.
We hope this update showcases the effort across VisitScotland to position Glasgow as a must-visit tourism destination. I hope to meet as many as possible in the local industry on my travels in the months ahead.
Marketing Glasgow City Region to the world
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What's new on visitscotland.com?
Check out some of our new and refreshed blogs on visitscotland.com featuring Glasgow City Region:
- 14 ideas for an accessible day out in Glasgow
- 11 reasons why you should visit Scotland in 2024 - featuring Paisley Museum, the Citizen's Theatre and The Address hotel
- Trainhopping around Scotland's cities
- Free things to do & attractions in Glasgow
- 7-day itinerary - covering Glasgow city centre, Inverclyde, Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire, Arran, Bute and Cumbrae.
Partnership working - VisitScotland, Glasgow Life and Caledonian Sleeper
Building on the success of last year's activity, we worked once again on a campaign with Caledonian Sleeper and Glasgow Life to encourage Londoners to wake up to the magic of Glasgow by embracing the benefits of overnight train travel. Activity for this campaign included:
- An influencer partnership with @theslowtraveller (1+ million followers) focussed on a cultural break to Glasgow
- Digital adverts on the London underground to target an audience passionate about travel
- Paid social advertising across Facebook and Instagram
ScotRail & Beano - Family adventures
We partnered once again with ScotRail and Beano across the summer and autumn monthsto promote family focussed days out in Scotland:
- In the summer campaign activity, Glasgow was featured in articles in The Daily Record and Sunday Mail
- In the autumn, Glasgow's Riverside Musuem was featured in digital display adverts and Glasgow was part of a 'central-belt' focus for outdoor advertising to target car commuters.
London to Glasgow summer breaks - working with Avanti
We partnered with Glasgow Life and Avanti West Coast on a campaign to promote London to Glasgow (and beyond) summer breaks. Activity for the campaign included:
- An influencer partnership with @macerly allowed us to showcase the range of Glasgow offers
- Through digital display adverts, we shared the 'Choose Your Own Adventure' images to show the range of adventures Glasgow offers
- We worked with VICE Publishing, again to promote the 'Choose Your Own Adventure' messaging and drive users to this long-weekend itinerary.
Celebrating the inaugural UCI Cycling World Championships
In August 2023, Glasgow and across Scotland welcome the inaugural UCI Cycling World Championships, where 13 UCI World Championships were combined into one mega event for the first time ever.
The Championships were declared a huge success after a preliminary estimate of 1 million spectators turned out to watch the festival of cycling, while millions more tuned in around the world to see the eleven days of cycling action taking place in Glasgow and various locations across Scotland. Glasgow was at the centre of the event, hosting 8 of 13 Championships alongside the official fan zone in George Square.
Take a look at the round-up article to find out more about the inaugural event.
Read the round-up articleGlasgow City Region in the news
Our Global PR team works to both promote Glasgow City Region and Scotland across key travel and lifestyle media. In the last six months, the team have shared information and press releases to more than 2,500 media contacts in the UK, North America, Germany, France, China, Australia, and the UAE.
The team pitch ideas to media contacts throughout the year, handle enquiries and requests from global media, and attend events such as the World Travel Market in London.
The team also host press visits across Scotland to generate coverage that truly reflects all the country has to offer.
Use the tabs below to find out how they have promoted Glasgow City Region to different consumer and industry audiences.
- We supported a media trip with Soundbite PR resulting in coverage in Spectator magazine spotlighting the food and drink offering in Glasgow and Edinburgh.
- After pitching Glasgow as a top destination for enjoying the outdoors, tying into the UCI Cycling World Championships, the team secured coverage in publications including The Sun's Fabulous magazine, The I, The Sunday Mail and The Times.
- After a press trip to Glasgow in 2022, journalist Laura Studarus published an in-depth article 'The Instagram Guide to Glasgow' in Marie Claire.
- Following previous work with our team, journalist Amy Tara Koch reached out to the team to support with her in-depth interview with Outlander star Sam Heughan. In the article in The New York Times, the actor discusses his favourite places in Glasgow.
- In September, Travel + Leisure published a feature on the 25 best things to do in Scotland according to local experts. Taking a day trip to Glasgow is listed, particularly highlighting the city's friendly atmosphere with must-visit attractions.
- The team supported Échappées belles with their 'Enchanting Scotland' travel documentary on France 5. Glasgow is featured with a city tour with Chef Gary Maclean to chat Glasgow cuisine as well as visit Glasgow Necropolis.
- Spiegel.de, one of Germany’s most widely read online news platforms, published a feature on 'Glasgow as the Glaswegians love it' – highlighting both nightlife spots such as Ashton lane and green spaces in the city.
- German magazine Geo published an article '10 reasons to discover Glasgow without delay' which featured St. Mungo Cathedral, Kelvingrove Museum and the Burrell Collection.
- Partnering with VisitBritain, Australian writer Steve McKenna visited Glasgow with a resulting 12-page spread in The Sunday Times detailing his adventures exploring the east end of the city on two wheels, his musical journey through a UNESCO City of Music and his strolls along the River Clyde to the Riverside museum.
- Glasgow featured again in The Sunday Times after a visit by another Australian journalist Sandy Guy, this time sharing the history and stories of Glasgow together with the city's amazing architecture.
- Condé Nast - Traveller Middle East published an online article in September 2023 on the best places to visit in Scotland. Glasgow was featured as the country’s walloping cultural heart – with Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Zaha Hadid-designed museum, the Gallery of Modern Art, a Michelin-star cuisine in the west end and musical delights are all reasons to visit the city.
Travel Trade - What's new?
Our Travel Trade Team supports travel intermediaries around the world as they develop and adapt their Scotland programmes for future sales.
In October, the team added several new Glasgow suppliers to the travel trade website: AC by Marriot Glasgow, Radisson Blu Hotel Glasgow, Auchentoshan Distillery and Wemyss School of Needlework.
VisitScotland staff and industry also had the chance to hear first hand in November about some of the new products on offer in Glasgow City Centre with presentations from Mharsanta, Radisson Blu Hotel, AC by Marriott Glasgow and the Sandman Hotel.
Visit the travel trade website to find out more about how to market your business to global travel trade intermediaries.
Travel Trade Website
Related links
20/12/2023
Glasgow City Region on Social
3.36 million reach
Number of times Glasgow City Region content reached people on social media
189,000+ engagements
Reactions, likes and comments, shares and saves of Glasgow City Region posts
265,000+ reached
Top performing post by reach was an Instagram image of Glasgow City Chambers