Glasgow is looking to bring in more tourists, get them to stay for longer and spend more cash while they are here.
A new tourism strategy for the city has been published to use tourism to grow the economy over the next six years.
The plan has five aims: to increase the value of tourism to the Glasgow economy; to enhance the offering to visitors; to bring value for Glasgow’s people; to support places across the city and region and be sustainable and inclusive.
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Currently, people on average stay in the city for 6.1 nights and international visitors spend an average of £495 per stay while domestic tourists spend £233 per visit.
The aims of the plan to increase value are to encourage people to stay for longer and the city will target markets where people spend more cash.
To do this it is recognised that Glasgow will have to be easily reachable from those markets.
To increase what is on offer to tourists the city wants to develop a calendar of events throughout the year.
To achieve these the strategy mentions supporting investment in key venues and infrastructure including the SEC, Glasgow Airport and the city centre.
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The target markets are, for domestic tourism, people in Glasgow and the surrounding region, then Northern England, London and Southeast England, targeting “Engaged Sightseers, Food-Loving Culturalists, Adventure Seekers, Curious Travellers, Natural Advocate”.
For international markets, the primary targets are people from USA, Canada, Germany and France.
Business tourism, through conventions and conferences and friends and relatives of UK and International students, are also lucrative markets identified in the 21-page report.
The report states: “Competition for UK city leisure tourism is strong.
“In order to stand out in a crowded marketplace Glasgow needs to work across all fronts in order to nurture the reputation of the city and ensure that it is front of mind among potential visitors.
“This requires stakeholders to build a clear proposition of what the city can uniquely offer, while also giving a positive overall impression of the city and how visitors will feel there.”
It has identified food and drink, music, bands, sports teams, artists and designers to give the city an identity to market to potential visitors.
The strategy has been developed by Glasgow City Council, Glasgow Life, (owned by the council which runs museums and hosts events in the city), Scottish Enterprise and Visit Scotland.
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