Delivering for Greater Glasgow & The Clyde Valley How we re working to grow the visitor economy
Introduction VisitScotland s work is delivered through strong partnerships. We work with local authorities, destination organisations and other public and private sector bodies to support the delivery of tourism strategies essential to economic success across Greater Glasgow & The Clyde Valley. Local partners seized the opportunities of our Spirit of Scotland marketing campaign and the Year of Innovation, Architecture & Design 2016. We are building on this in the Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology 2017 where, also in line with the new Glasgow Tourism and Visitor Plan to 2023, we can capitalise on our outstanding heritage product. We have continued to invest in collaborative marketing with an award from our Growth Fund to the partnership of Glasgow City Marketing Bureau, Love Loch Lomond and ScotRail, whose campaign supported the new city strategy s positioning of Glasgow as gateway to Scotland. events such as the Homeless World Cup, UCI Track Cycling World Cup, Paisley Beer & Food Festival and British Rowing Junior World Cup to help support this vital part of the visitor economy. Using our experience of the Commonwealth Games, we now have particular focus on work with city, regional and national partners on the European Championships in 2018, with the aim of welcoming as many visitors as possible and ensuring that the Championships deliver the greatest possible benefit for Glasgow and Scotland. Liz Buchanan MBE Regional Partnerships Director VisitScotland Greater Glasgow & The Clyde Valley is a leading destination for events, with EventScotland, part of our Events Directorate, investing over 1.7 million across the region over the past year in 1
Key stats Figures in brackets are for the City of Glasgow. 63 million views of our series of online Spirit of Scotland documentaries and ads featuring the SSE Hydro, Barrowland and King Tut s More than 55,000 referrals to businesses in Greater Glasgow & The Clyde Valley from visitscotland.com in 2015/16 Over 1.7 million ( 1.6 million) invested by VisitScotland in Greater Glasgow & The Clyde Valley events in 2015/16 Over 132 million potential consumers reached worldwide by our consumer in 2015/16 309 (121) businesses participate in one of our Quality Assurance schemes in Greater Glasgow & The Clyde Valley. 163 (59) of those have achieved four or five stars representing a commitment to quality in the region 34,000 awarded to a partnership campaign between Glasgow City Marketing Bureau, Love Loch Lomond and Abellio ScotRail by our Growth Fund in 2015/16 Over 26 million in economic benefit provided by the Conference Subvention Bid Fund to Glasgow in 2015/16 3 billion estimated in investment that will impact on Greater Glasgow & The Clyde Valley s tourism industry and enhance the quality of the visitor experience over the next three years, as outlined by the National Tourism Development Framework 8.5 million opportunities to see or hear messaging about Greater Glasgow & The Clyde Valley in our dedicated VisitScotland marketing campaigns in 2015/16 2
Strategic activity The 1 billion Glasgow City Region City Deal is strengthening the partnerships within Greater Glasgow & The Clyde Valley, an area now hard at work on delivering a range of projects that will bring significant benefits to the infrastructure, economy and labour market for many years to come. VisitScotland is a key partner in local tourism strategies that will ensure these benefits are felt in the visitor economy. In the city, we have been closely involved in the development of the new Glasgow Tourism and Visitor Plan to 2023, and we have a similar strategic role with local authorities and industry groups across the surrounding area. We sit on the Lanarkshire Area Tourism Partnership and play a key role in helping to deliver the area strategy through the Lanarkshire Tourism Strategy 2012-2020 Steering Group. We are also on the Inverclyde Tourism Partnership, which worked with Inverclyde Council to deliver actions and outcomes of the Inverclyde Tourism Development Strategy 2009-2016 and are now helping to inform a new strategy to 2020. The East Dunbartonshire Economic Development Strategy has been developed with input from VisitScotland. The strategy has particular emphasis on town centres, transport links and the potential of attractions, events and festivals to grow the visitor economy. We have worked with partners on Clydeplan, the strategic planning framework for the wider region, which focuses on the impact of green networks, strategic transport, river access and public space for residents and visitors. We advise the strategic direction of the Renfrewshire Tourism Action Plan and support Paisley s ambition to bid for the 2021 UK City of Culture. Finally, we had a consultative role on initial development plans for both the Greater Renfrewshire & Inverclyde and Kelvin Valley & Falkirk LEADER panels and now sit on both Local Action Groups. 3
Glasgow Tourism and Visitor Plan to 2023 The new Glasgow Tourism and Visitor Plan to 2023 sets out a clear direction for building the city s global profile as a successful tourism destination, and is focused on increasing overnight leisure tourism visits by one million over the next seven years. Achieving three million overnight visits per year by 2023 will deliver an economic boost of 771 million and contribute an additional 6,600 jobs in the city. It will also help to achieve Scotland s target of an additional 1 billion of visitor expenditure by 2020 and align with the aims of the Glasgow City Region City Deal, supporting the growth of the region s economy. Overseeing the Plan is a new Leadership Group drawn from leading figures from the private sector and academia, together with senior representation from key public sector stakeholders including our Chief Executive, Malcolm Roughead OBE. The group will champion the implementation of the Plan and steer the city s tourism sector to improve its global competitiveness, while addressing challenges and opportunities. In order to deliver this ambition, Glasgow has prioritised the positioning of its cultural tourism offer in key UK and international markets. That proposition is focused on six core themes: heritage, contemporary art, music, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, events and the city s capability as a world-class sporting destination. The strategy also aims to stimulate visits and spend through positioning of the city as gateway to Scotland. VisitScotland will be closely involved with each of the Plan s workstreams. 4
Key projects As part of the work on delivering the new Glasgow Tourism and Visitor Plan to 2023, VisitScotland is further developing three key projects in the city region. SOCIAL TOURISM Over 250 struggling families were able to get a break from their day-to-day hardships last year as a result of two pilot projects on social tourism. We worked with the Family Holiday Association on the Spirit of Scotland initiative, helping nearly 100 disadvantaged families take short breaks in Scotland last summer. We then ran a west of Scotland project, which gave day breaks around Greater Glasgow & Clyde Valley, neighbouring areas and across Scotland for a further 170 families through the generous response from industry partners. Building on these successes, in 2017 we are increasing the scale of our work on social tourism. ACCESSIBLE GLASGOW Ahead of the Commonwealth Games in 2014, VisitScotland coordinated a Legacy Project to develop accessibility among the city s tourism businesses. Now we are expanding the project into neighbouring areas for the major events of 2018, when we have the European Championships in August, plus three major medical conferences throughout the year. The ultimate aim for 2023 is for Glasgow to be recognised as a European accessible destination. GLASGOW WELCOMES Glasgow Welcomes is the city s tourism service initiative, and to date has had over 10,000 participants. It is a Legacy Project of the Commonwealth Games and the 2018 European Championships, and plays an important role in the delivery of the new Plan by developing leadership, skills and service excellence. New from 2017, the programme now includes annual awards plus a company recognition scheme. 5
Industry support VisitScotland sells Scotland with Scotland, which ultimately means working together and supporting the tourism industry to market our country to the world. In Greater Glasgow & The Clyde Valley over 900 businesses are currently engaged with VisitScotland s opportunities, with many more benefiting indirectly. Our Quality Assurance Scheme has been operating for over 30 years and is now one of the best in the world. Over 300 businesses in Greater Glasgow & The Clyde Valley are committed to the scheme. Quality is crucial to our industry to maintain a global competitive advantage. One of our powerful assets is our people. Our Industry Relationship Managers Donald Hoy and Anne Massey, provide tailored support and advice to businesses across the region in the form of one-to-one meetings and workshops. Anne facilitated digital workshops for businesses in Lanarkshire during Lanarkshire Business Week in 2016. In November 2016, we hosted an Inverclyde tourism industry event in partnership with Inverclyde Council offering information and practical solutions to help tourism businesses take advantage of a host of opportunities in the area. Our support also includes a range of Welcome Schemes and promotional opportunities spanning online, marketing and icentre activity as well as international events and Travel Trade business missions. 6
Events support Events are an integral part of the Glasgow Tourism Action Plan to 2023 as well as other local authority and destination group s plans across the region. Greater Glasgow & The Clyde Valley already has success in securing business, sporting and cultural events in our many purposebuilt venues from the Scottish Exhibition Campus to Strathclyde Country Park. Business events help reinforce the city s economic strengths and growing the calendar of events and conferences is seen as a priority in the strategy. VisitScotland supports this ambition and helped to secure 26.1 million in economic benefit through the Conference Subvention Bid Fund for Glasgow in 2015/16. Our Business Events team also sent 47 enquiries direct to venues in the region during 2015/16, representing a potential economic impact of over 25 million. Glasgow is already seen as one of the best sporting cities in the world with the legacy of the XX Commonwealth Games still having an effect on our reputation for securing international sporting events. Along with the 2018 European Championships we are also hosting the 2017 Badminton World Championships, 2019 European Indoor Athletics Championships and are one of the host cities for UEFA Euro 2020. As part of our ongoing events strategy, EventScotland, part of VisitScotland s Events Directorate, invested over 1.7 million in Greater Glasgow & The Clyde Valley events in 2015/16. These ranged from major events such as the World Gymnastics Championships, Davis Cup and Turner Prize to regional and national events such as the Paisley Beer & Food Festival, Scotland s Boat Show in Inverclyde and the Tour Series cycle races that took place in Motherwell. Sweetspot 7
Marketing Greater Glasgow & The Clyde Valley VisitScotland s marketing provides a shop window for Scotland stimulating investment, helping to create jobs and bringing in millions of visitors. GLOBAL CAMPAIGNS VisitScotland launched its first ever global campaign the Spirit of Scotland in February 2016, with one message and jaw-dropping visuals. Greater Glasgow & The Clyde Valley has featured across the campaign in film, print and digital advertising, direct mail packs and more across the UK, US, Germany and France. Shots of Glasgow not only feature in the TV ad, which includes images of the city and some of its music venues, but also in a series of online films which show Andy Scott, creator of The Kelpies, in his Glasgow studio as well as Fiona Shepherd of Glasgow Music City Tours. Time lapse footage brings stunning venues within the city, such as the SSE Hydro, Barrowland Ballroom and King Tut s to life. This activity creates a base for the industry to build on and the campaign invites everyone to get involved and share their #ScotSpirit in order to help generate more visits and grow the visitor economy. In the first five months alone, there were more than 130,000 shares of #ScotSpirit (average 1,000 per day) and more than 20 million views of the online campaign films. #ScotSpirit also trended at number 20 worldwide on Twitter. 8
REGIONAL CAMPAIGNS Glasgow City Marketing Bureau invested in VisitScotland s regional marketing in 2016 in the form of a direct mail pack. The pack was sent to over 23,000 homes targeting previous visitors to Scotland, particularly those who have highlighted an interest in Glasgow. Over the time that the direct mail pack went out - autumn/ winter 2015/16 - this activity, along with all our other marketing for the region, contributed over 1.5 million worth of new visitor expenditure. As part of our added-value activity, Glasgow features as one of seven cities filmed in a visually stunning snapshot of the area. From exploring The Lighthouse to shopping on Buchanan Street and eating and drinking in Finnieston, the footage captures the visitor s imagination to show the range of activities on offer on a city break during winter and summer. The videos are promoted through all of our digital channels, targeting thousands of visitors across the globe. More than 20 UK-based travel trade buyers and agents took part in a discovery workshop at Hard Rock Café in October 2016 as part of a three-day city familiarisation visit organised by VisitScotland, Glasgow City Marketing Bureau and Scottish Enterprise in partnership with trade association, UKinbound. The group, which represents Glasgow s key international visitor markets including America, Germany, France, Canada, Australia and China, met with businesses and suppliers from across the city s tourism sector. 9
Social Media and Digial Content VisitScotland provides inspiration and information to hundreds of thousands of potential customers across our online social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. The launch of our #ScotSpirit campaign has encouraged visitors and locals alike to upload inspirational images of Scotland and Greater Glasgow & The Clyde Valley, which in turn are being shared far and wide. Looking to connect our visitors directly with our industry, Scotland s Online Community launched in July 2016 does just that. A growing platform with over 4,000 users looking for information about Greater Glasgow & The Clyde Valley. Greater Glasgow & The Clyde Valley posts across all our media channels led to more than 204,000 likes, shares, retweets and comments between April and September 2016. The top post with the most engagement on Facebook was a photo of Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum that received over 5,500 likes, comments and shares. 10
Sign up to our monthly industry newsletter at visitscotland.org/eupdate Follow our corporate Twitter feed @VisitScotNews Connect with us on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/company/visitscotland All other photographs VisitScotland unless otherwise stated. VisitScotland has published this report in good faith to update stakeholders on its activity. VisitScotland has taken all reasonable steps to confirm the information contained in the publication is correct. However, VisitScotland does not warrant or assume any legal liability for the accuracy of any information disclosed and accepts no responsibility for any errors or omissions. CONTACT US Liz Buchanan MBE Regional Partnerships Director 07771 980373 liz.buchanan@visitscotland.com Annique Armstrong Regional Director (East Renfrewshire, Renfrewshire, Inverclyde, North and South Lanarkshire) 07500 784861 annique.armstrong@visitscotland.com David Adams McGilp Regional Director (East Dunbartonshire) 07818 873256 david.adamsmcgilp@visitscotland.com visitscotland.com visitscotland.org