30 . Glasgow Business October 2015
GROWING GLASGOW’S ECONOMY
Tourism boost bodes well ahead of State of the City event E
ach year the main players in Glasgow’s economy gather to take stock of where we currently are and what needs to be done to grow the
economy in the immediate future. Te State of the City Economy event – which
this year takes place on Friday 20 November – comes at an important time for the city region economy as we seek to continue to build on the gains made in 2014. It will look at what has been done in the
follow-up year to one when the city was in the world spotlight as never before, with the hosting of the Commonwealth Games and other major events. Glasgow Economic Leadership (GEL), the
private-public initiative whose aim is to grow the economy and create jobs, has been conducting and reviewing research that will help frame the economic development drive in the city over the next seven years. Te GEL Board has, in particular, been
looking at two pieces of work that are helping focus decision-making for the next stage of economic development delivery. Te Oxford Economics consultancy has
conducted a study into Glasgow’s economic position, comparing it to other Scotish cities and European urban centres. Te study looked at key economic sectors in the city region and their performance over the past five years. Te second report is from ResPublica, the
independent Westminster-based think tank, on city devolution and its possible contribution in tackling the productivity challenge that the whole of the UK is currently facing. Te ResPublica report argues, in line with the
think tank’s consistent view, that a detailed understanding of local economic factors is key in guiding economic decision making. In a
presentation to the GEL board, ResPublica’s Philip Blond argued that over-centralised government, whether at Westminster or Holyrood, does not make for the effective development of local economies, because central authorities can never really clearly understand demand at a local level. Consideration of moves to further increase
the city region economy comes against a backdrop of some positive evidence concerning tourism in Glasgow. Annual figures released by the Scotish
Exhibition and Conference Centre demonstrated the huge impact that the SSE Hydro has made to the centre and to the wider economy. In the 2014-15 financial year, the Hydro
hosted 156 performances showcasing the very best talent in music, comedy and sport. Te Hydro delivered 1,049,324 visitors, a
performance that saw it officially recognised as the second-busiest live entertainment arena in the world. Tens of thousands of fans witnessed the
gymnastics, netball and boxing competitions at the Commonwealth Games, hosted at the venue, with millions more around the world watching the batle for medals on TV. Other showpieces it hosted in the year included the Ryder Cup Gala Concert, the MTV European Music Awards and the BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards. Te Hydro’s performance helped boost the
SECC’s turnover by 50 per cent to £34.9 million (from £23.3 million in the previous year) with operating profit or EBIDTA increasing by an incredible 405 per cent to £9.21 million from £1.8 million. Another major success story in the tourism
arena has been the performance of Glasgow Airport. Figures released in August by ACI Europe, the European airport trade body, showed
it was the third-fastest growing airport of its size in Europe in the first six months of 2015. Glasgow Airport said 3,958,094 passengers passed through its terminals in the first six months of 2015, a rise of 13.8 per cent over the previous period. Te airport was also ranked third for passenger transport in June, with a 14.1 per cent passenger growth. In 2015 alone, the airport has
secured 22 new services including direct flights to Prague, Budapest, Milan and Halifax in Nova Scotia. A third positive indicator is the strength of the
city’s hotel occupancy figures. Demand for hotel beds in June soared to 92.7 per cent – a rise of 7.4 per cent compared to June 2014, according to figures from LJ Research. Buoyed by a number of large-scale business
and leisure events, room occupancy in the city was 95 per cent or above on 16 separate nights during the month, a performance that beat that of the other Scotish cities. Further detailed evidence on the
performance of different sectors within the city will come via separate reviews being carried out by Glasgow Chamber of Commerce into the retail sector, Glasgow’s night-time economy and commercial property in the city centre. All of these different bits of research will feed
into devising a new economic strategy that will aim to take the economy of Glasgow to new levels of growth. Te new strategy document will be unveiled in November for consultation and will be finalised by Spring 2016.
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