News Update - March 2007

 

 

Molly Doheny, head of the Convention Bureau at Glasgow City Marketing Bureau, said: “There has never been a better time to meet in Glasgow, Scotland. Our 18^th century Merchant City quarter is now a lively cultural hub, packed with fashionable restaurants, bars and shops nestling next to the heart of the city centre. It has often been said that Glasgow is the most American of all British cities in terms of our friendliness, optimism and openness. Our American visitors will feel comfortable coming to Glasgow for business and pleasure, and I know they will enjoy the many free cultural attractions we have to offer in one of Europe’s most dynamic and cosmopolitan cities.”

Biggest hotel complex in Scotland coming to Glasgow

The biggest hotel development in Scotland, complete with dedicated conference facilities, is set to open in Glasgow city centre. The new owners of the Holiday Inn – European Development Company (Hotels) Limited – are planning to demolish the building and replace it with a new 300 bedroom four star Holiday Inn with a function suite catering for 1,000 people, and a health and fitness centre. The company is also building a 275 bedroom three star Express by Holiday Inn on an adjacent site. Both hotels on the £100 million complex, to be known as the Bothwell Plaza, are designed to complement one another, and the conference centre will have its own dedicated reception staff and catering.

 

The Scottish Exhibition + Conference Centre (SECC) has selected Macdonald Estates for a major development involving a 4/5 star, office accommodation and multi-storey car park. Work is due to start in three phases, beginning in 2008, and the project will be completed in 2011 in time for the opening of the SECC’s £66 million, 12,500-seat Scottish National Arena.

 

March marked the third anniversary of the launch of the Glasgow: Scotland with style and the results to date have been stunning. Since the launch, there have been an extra 359,769 overnight visitors to the metropolitan area, generating £41,740,506 to the local economy.

Average hotel occupancy rates have risen from 70.8% in 2004 to 74.3% in 2006 – the highest since records began and at a time of ever-increasing supply of hotel beds. 

 

Media coverage of Glasgow and its style credentials generated by GCMB have reached 1.15 billion people – an equivalent advertising value of £48,158,472. In 2005, 775,000 foreign tourists visited Glasgow – a 25.6% increase on the previous year – according to the UK government’s International Passenger Survey. Convention sales grew by 8% from £58.6 million under the previous Greater Glasgow and Clyde Valley Tourist Board in 2004-05 to £63.1 million in 205-06 under GCMB. The number of people working in tourism in Glasgow before the brand was launched in 2003 was 25,045 – by 2005 that number had increased to 29,640.  

 

A seaplane service landing in the heart of Glasgow will take off this summer. Landing on the River Clyde near the Glasgow Science Centre and Scottish Exhibition + Conference Centre (SECC), it will whisk passengers off to the glories of the Scottish highlands in a matter of minutes. The service will be operated by Loch Lomond Seaplanes, which was set up three years ago as Britain’s first commercial flying boat company in 50 years.

 

Glasgow will get its fourth five star hotel next year when the landmark former Royal Scottish Automobile Club re-opens next spring as the luxurious Blythswood Square. The Townhouse Company is spending £17 million to transform the elegant city centre Georgian building into an 88-bedroom hotel with conference facilities, luxury leisure club and spa and landmark bar.

 

Glasgow Science Centre, a landmark futuristic building on the banks of the River Clyde, has opened a new 400 seat state-of-the-art atrium with leading edge lighting, acoustics and giant drop-down plasma screens. The new 500 metre square space, known as the Atrium, can cater for banquets for 400 guests, cocktail parties for 500, and can be used for award ceremonies.

 

Glasgow has unveiled a unique Five Star Promise to conference organisers encompassing hotels, transport, convention facilities, an accommodation booking service and marketing support. A key element in the Five Star Promise is that Glasgow hoteliers have pledged not to inflate artificially their prices during major events and conferences. Glasgow Restaurateurs Association, representing 70 outlets with more than 6,300 dining seats, and the Glasgow Nightclub Forum, whose 70 members have entertainment capacity for 60,000 people, has also given the same ground-breaking pledge.

 

Glasgow’s two airports have attracted an extra 30 flights in the past year, making it easier than ever to reach the city. Glasgow International Airport - which is eight miles from the city centre and serves 60 destinations - secured 13 new flights last year and a further eight so far this year, including Berlin, Athens, Orlando, Stockholm, Boston, Vancouver and Toronto. And Glasgow Prestwick International, 30 miles southwest of the city and flying to 33 destinations, has started new flights to Amsterdam, Reus, Marseille, Wroclaw, Grenoble, Riga, Derry, Warsaw and Gdansk. And British Airways has reinstated business flights to London City Airport in recognition of Glasgow’s growing importance as a financial services centre.

 

Glasgow City Marketing Bureau has scooped a hat-trick of awards from influential conference industry organisations around the world. In February, readers of Meetings and Incentive Travel magazine voted GCMB the best convention bureau in Britain. In November, the International Congress and Convention Association, representing 770 organisations in 80 countries, gave GCMB its top marketing award. In October, at the Meetings Industry Marketing Awards, GCMB was given the Gold Award for the Best Brand Marketing Campaign for the Glasgow: Scotland with style campaign. And readers of Condé Nast Traveller have voted Glasgow their favourite UK city.

 

The Scottish Exhibition + Conference Centre (SECC) generates £336 million to the Glasgow economy and events held there sustain 1.5% of the city’s employment, according to a new report by accountants KPMG. The report found that the SECC, Britain’s biggest integrated conference and exhibition centre, sustains 6,582 jobs in Glasgow, 3,933 in Scotland, and 2,193 in the UK. A similar study in 1993 found the SECC sustained 1,989 jobs in the former Strathclyde (greater Glasgow) region, and 1,259 in Scotland. SECC visitors, exhibitors and organisers spent £77 million on accommodation £73 million on meals, food and drink, and £68 million on shopping in Glasgow in 2006-07, the survey found.

 

Stephen Breen

Convention Bureau Public Relations

Glasgow City Marketing Bureau

Tel: + 44 (0) 141 566 0833.  

Email: stephen.breen@seeglasgow.com  

 

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