VisitScotland research names Glasgow as the most ‘exciting’ place for tourists in Scotland

New research from VisitScotland reveals that Glasgow is the most exciting place in Scotland for tourists. As part of their ‘Scotland is Calling’ campaign, the national tourism organisation set out to uncover how holiday-goers from across the UK feel about their adventures in Scotland, looking to pinpoint the emotions felt most in each region.

The survey revealed that ‘happiness’ is the strongest emotion felt by those taking a break in Scotland, with one in five (18%) people saying this across the country and over one in five (22%) saying this about Glasgow specifically.

However, although ‘excited’ was the second-most felt emotion by visitors to Glasgow, the city still comes out on top as the region holiday-goers are most likely to say they felt excited in, with over one in six (16%) people who selected Glasgow saying this.

The most popular way to visit Glasgow is with family members, with over a quarter (28%) of people saying this. Interestingly, out of all the UK’s regions, Londoners are the most likely to feel adventurous when they came to Scotland, feeling this especially in Glasgow.

Just earlier this year, Glasgow was named by Time Out as the world’s friendliest city, and it seems the respondents of VisitScotland’s research agree. One tourist said that Glasgow was their favourite city in Scotland because, “it has the best people, fabulous architecture and great energy.”

Whilst another paid homage to Glasgow’s UNESCO City of Music status: “Glasgow is my absolute favourite city. I love the music and the liveliness of the place all year round.”

As did another, saying that Glasgow was their favourite place because of its: “great arts and entertainment scene.”

Other previous research from Cambridge University found Scottish people to be the friendliest in the UK and it seems holiday-goers agree.

VisitScotland asked people to agree with statements they felt best described Scottish people and 90% of the statements selected were positive. Statements include “Scottish people always make them feel welcome”, “Scottish people play an integral part in what makes their Scottish holiday experiences more enjoyable” and, “Scottish people always make me feel accepted”.

What’s more, 94% of respondents said that they always have a positive experience when they visit Scotland and another nine in ten people (92%) say that their experiences and memories of visiting Scotland make them want to return to their ‘special locations’.

After ‘happiness’ (22%) and ‘excited’ (16%), the third most felt emotion by tourists in Glasgow was ‘adventurous’ (11%).