New marketing organisation to drive tourism and investment into Glasgow

Glasgow City Council has agreed to combine its own inward investment team with staff working on tourism, conventions and destination marketing at arms-length body Glasgow Life.

The workers currently at Glasgow Life, which runs culture and leisure services, will be transferred over to the council under the plan.

It is hoped a destination marketing and management organisation will serve as “the city’s voice to the world” and provide a “compelling, consistent brand”.

Invest Glasgow, the Glasgow Convention Bureau and Glasgow Life’s destination marketing team will be combined as a result of the decision.

Glasgow is planning to introduce a visitor levy — a 5% charge on overnight stays — from January 2027. Kevin Rush, the council’s director of regional economic growth, said there have been talks about “whether or not some of that funding could be ringfenced for future activity”.

Any future funding plans for the new marketing organisation would go before councillors for approval, he added.

Plans for the new organisation have arisen from a review of Glasgow Life in 2023, which recommended a “wider approach” to conventions and tourism. Since then, a review of conventions has been completed and an external review, via Glasgow Chamber of Commerce, was commissioned.

Mairi Millar, the council’s director of legal and administration, said: “While that review was very complimentary of the work that is done in relation to the individual components, it was found that a more optimal approach could be taken by creating a single dedicated destination marketing and management organisation.”

It is hoped the organisation will “unlock Glasgow’s potential, drive tourism, attract business events, and bring sustainable investment into the city”.

Mr Rush added the review had looked at different models from across Europe. “Where we could see examples of it having worked really well across Europe, there was that integration between them,” he said.

Council leader Susan Aitken said feedback reported through the Glasgow economic leadership board, which she co-chairs, was that there is currently a “disconnect between the excellent work done by each individual component”.

“The feedback has been that they wanted to see all of that come together and be part of a single narrative about the way we sell the city both externally and internally,” she added.

The Glasgow Convention Bureau works with partners like the SEC, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, tourism and hospitality firms and the city’s academic institutions. It transferred to Glasgow Life in 2016 and acts as a first point of contact for convention organisers.

The council’s inward investment team, Invest Glasgow, is currently based in the chief executive’s department. Glasgow Life also manages the Visit Glasgow and People Make Glasgow brands, which aim to attract visitors to the city and drive overnight stays.

Staff at Glasgow Life are now set to be transferred to the economic development team in the chief executive’s department.

An implementation plan will be developed with a “view to the transfers taking place by the end of November 2025”. It will be subject to consultation with trade unions and the affected workers