20 . Glasgow Business November/December 2013


Glasgow businesses should take advantage of the Commonwealth Games, the Ryder Cup and Homecoming events taking place next year, tourism chief advises


GRAB A YEAR’S WORTH OF BIG OPPORTUNITIES


Delegates hear about the opportunities on off er. Left: Stuart Patrick, Chief Executive of Glasgow Chamber of


Commerce (left) and Malcolm Roughead, Chief Executive of VisitScotland


B


usinesses should make the most of opportunities around the Glasgow Commonwealth


Games in 2014 despite the strict rules on branding, according to Malcolm Roughead, CEO of tourism agency VisitScotland. “T ere are some tight rules on


branding because sponsors have paid a lot of money to make the Games happen, but that shouldn’t put businesses off ,” Roughead said. He said that Glasgow 2014, the


Ryder Cup at Gleneagles and the Homecoming would turn a global spotlight onto Scotland. “It’s really important that we


don’t look back aſt er 2014 is over and think we missed a lot of opportunities,” he said. “We have to have a clear vision


about what we want to get out of it. We have to ensure that we’re all pulling in the same direction.” Speaking in a Glasgow Talks


event run by Glasgow Chamber of Commerce, Roughhead said that there were major opportunities for tourism, for inward investment and international trade around the events of 2104. He said that the impact of the


year should provide the impetus to the tourism industry for the fi ve to 10 years following 2014.


He stressed that it was not just


the Games that gave opportunities. T e Ryder Cup is the third most watched sporting event in the world with a global audience of a billion. “T e Ryder Cup is already sold out. You can’t get a ticket,” he said. “T ere will be a lot of people


staying in Scotland for the Ryder Cup who will be staying in Glasgow.” T ere are already 220 events


planned for Homecoming with a target of 400, which he said would be achieved. He said that VisitScotland was working closely with Glasgow Life to maximise Homecoming opportunities. “It’s also about the investment


and about get ing the country talked about – people will see that Scotland can do things.” Mr Roughhead said that


tourism, or what he called the visitor at raction sector, was worth about £11 billion a year to the Scot ish economy and accounted for 270,000 jobs and more than 20,000 businesses.


FIND OUT MORE...


A toolkit has been developed to advise how to take advantage of the Commonwealth opportunities. Turn to page 22 for more information.


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