10 Aug 2022
By Richard Muir, Deputy Chief Executive of Glasgow Chamber of Commerce
Glasgow was recently voted Time Out’s fourth best place to visit in the world 2022. Casual kindness and good humour were cited as top qualities for people while the city’s vibrant dining scene, vast amount of green space and good value for money were praised as reasons to visit.
It’s accolades like this that build Glasgow’s reputation globally as an authentic and accessible place and our business and leisure events offering will make a massive contribution to the recovery of the economy post pandemic.
Glasgow's tourism sector continues to help drive the city's international image and is built around a strategy of attracting a diverse portfolio of international conferences, and major sporting and cultural events. This is on top of key attractions such as the world renowned and recently reopened Burrell Collection, supported by partners including Glasgow Life which collectively will help to attract a legacy of investment.
It’s hard to believe that it has been eight years since Glasgow welcomed what the then President of the Commonwealth Federation, Prince Imran described as the ‘best ever Commonwealth Games’ and generated some of our fondest memories and sporting achievements. Fast forward to Birmingham 2022 and the Scotland Team have achieved an impressive sixth place in the Medal Table with a 51 medal haul.
Glasgow will soon host another significant sporting event. It’s a year to go until the UCI Cycling World Championships, the largest cycling event ever held with 8,000 professional and amateur riders, from over 120 countries competing. Following in 2024, Glasgow will host the World Athletics Indoor Championships at Emirates Arena which comes five years after the hugely successful European Athletics Indoor Championships in 2019.
In addition, the World Pipe Band Championships make a welcome return to Glasgow Green this weekend and of course, Glasgow along with other UK cities is now bidding to host Eurovision 2023.
Glasgow has become a major destination in its own right because of its hospitality and retail offering and with its diverse mix of music, arts and cultural events and festivals and its willingness to experiment and deliver value for money. But, these international competitions, hosted in our city, will yet again reinforce Glasgow’s status as a world-class sporting and event city.
With effective planning, governance and leadership, positive legacy effects are possible. For example venues and housing were planned and developed with their end-use and ownership already agreed including deliberate decisions that new and refurbished Games venues would be multi-sport venues that could both host major events and provide opportunities for the local community. This resulted in Scotland attracting international events and the venues being well used by local communities. Furthermore the Athletes Village in 2014 is now home to hundreds of eco homes which deliver a significant reduction in carbon emissions. The addition of a low carbon community heating system coupled with use of a building fabric which retained heat was also designed to accelerate the level of carbon reduction in homes by up to 95% which is well below the average.
COP26 also resulted in many sustainability benefits and legacies for the city while also bolstering the business narrative for Glasgow. For instance 15,000m2 of carpet used at the ten day event was lifted and fitted to 1,800 homes in the city through Govan based company Spruce Carpets whilst Glasgow Wood Recycling reused 51 pallets of wood for other uses including events.
Looking ahead, more than one million spectators are expected to attend the UCI World Championships in Glasgow and throughout Scotland, with over a billion watching on TV. Generating an estimated economic value of £67M for the country it puts the city in the ‘shop window’ for tourism visits for years to come.
The business of winning, staging and capitalising on international events is hugely important to Glasgow in so many ways. It will take on an even more significant role post pandemic as we compete with other cities and reinforce our credentials as a world class destination to live, work and visit.
This article was first published in The Herald on Wednesday 10 August 2022
