Glasgow attracts record numbers of overseas visitors in 2017

Between them tourists spent £319million here

Published 31st Jul 2018

More than three-quarters of a million people visited Glasgow from overseas last year.

The 787,000 international tourists who came to the city is a new record, and up by nearly a fifth on 2016.

The amount of cash spent by visitors is also up by more than a third, to £319million.

The figures come from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) travel trends survey published earlier this month and have now been analysed by city tourism leaders.

It was found the majority of international tourists to Glasgow in 2017 came from Europe (400,000) and North America (218,000), with five nights the average stay.

Glasgow Life highlighted festivals such as Celtic Connections, the World Pipe Band Championships and sporting events as key attractions along with international conferences and conventions.

The city's growth was above Scotland as a whole, with figures for 2017 showing there was a 17% rise in the number of overseas visitors to 3.2 million, with spending up 23% to £2.3 billion.

Councillor David McDonald, chair of Glasgow Life and deputy leader of the city council, said: "Attracting more international visitors through creative marketing and inspirational content is at the heart of Glasgow's tourism plan.

"As we prepare to welcome thousands of tourists from across Europe over the next two weeks to the first-ever European Championships, our priority now is to ensure that Glasgow messaging remains front of mind this year and beyond, and that we continue to capitalise on the interest in the city that we know exists globally at present.''

Malcolm Roughead, chief executive of VisitScotland, said: "Tourism is the heartbeat of the Scottish economy and touches every community; generating income, jobs and social change.

"The results of this rise in overseas tourism to Glasgow will see ripple effects across the city and beyond.''

Stuart Patrick, chief executive of Glasgow Chamber of Commerce, said: "Growing Glasgow's tourism was always an important goal of delivering the Commonwealth Games, and the aim of the tourism plan is clear - an extra one million visitors to the city each year, boosting the economy and bringing jobs."