Glasgow’s international profile has been boosted by major events the city has hosted in recent years, such as COP26, Euro2020, the UCI Cycling World Championships and CUT & RUN at The Gallery of Modern Art, Banksy’s first solo exhibition in 14 years.
Visitors spent £2.35 billion in Glasgow in 2023, almost 50% more than in 2022, while Scottish Tourism Economic Impact Model (STEAM) data for 2023 showed a huge rise in overnight visitors to the city, with 3.91 million visitors staying in Glasgow overnight – up from 2.65 million the previous year – and day visitor numbers also up from 17.69 million in 2022 to 21.8 million.
With Glasgow celebrating its 850th birthday in 2025 with a year-long citywide programme of events and activities, VisitScotland has identified two key travel trends for Glasgow among a list of eight trends shaping what visitors are looking for in Scotland in 2025.
As part of our continuing series with our sister title Glagow Times we look at the eight trends identified as most relevant to Scotland in 2025. They are: Celebreaktions’, ‘Hobbidays’, ‘Gig-Tripping’, ‘Set Jetting’, ‘Instant Inspo’, ‘Sleep Tourism’, ‘Biohacking Wellness Tech’ and ‘Outdoor Therapy’.
Based on VisitScotland and wider travel industry insights, the trends are experience-led – reflecting visitors continuing to prioritise creating lasting memories over material items when they travel.
Of the eight, VisitScotland has pinpointed ‘gig-tripping’ and ‘set-jetting’ as being of specific interest to Glasgow, both of which fall under a wider theme of ‘passion travel’, which speaks to ‘experiences related to personal interests or a particular event such as celebrating a special occasion’.
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The first trend, ‘Gig-Tripping’, refers to the booming trend of planning a trip around seeing a concert or other live event, such as Taylor Swift’s trio of shows at Scottish Gas Murrayfield in Edinburgh in June last year, which injected an estimated £77 million into the local economy.
Meanwhile, the second trend, ‘Set-Jetting’, refers to the growing trend of people visiting destinations that were featured as filming locations in popular movies and TV shows.
As both a UNESCO City of Music and a favourite location for blockbuster film and TV productions, VisitScotland believes that Glasgow is well-positioned to profit from both travel trends in 2025.
Lynne Cooper, VisitScotland’s Regional Director, told The Herald: “Glasgow is a world class tourism and events destination and the 850th celebrations are another fantastic opportunity for the city’s profile.
“We’ve identified passion travel as a major trend for 2025. Our insights identified those visitors seeking out destinations aligned with their favourite pastimes, such as live music and set-jetting.
“Glasgow is in a great position to capitalise on this demand, with its status as a UNESCO City of Music and location for blockbuster film and TV productions.
“Using this research, we’re working alongside our partners and tourism businesses in the city to help drive the visitor economy and grow the value of tourism.”
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Debbie McWilliams, Managing Director, Strategy and People, at Scottish Event Campus (SEC), which is home to the OVO Hydro, said they are seeing an increase in the number of guests travelling from outside Glasgow to attend events at the 14,300-capacity arena.
She told The Herald: “Based on recent survey data from 15,000 of our customers, their average round trip for travelling to a gig was 97.5 miles, and 12% of them travelled to the OVO Hydro from outwith Scotland.
“Anecdotally we know people are choosing Glasgow as a gig location because of the choice of events we have available at the OVO Hydro but also because of the appeal of Glasgow as a city, its culture, accessibility, and also the great choice of hotels.
“As people continue to invest more into experiences, we expect travelling for big events to become more popular. Glasgow is in a perfect position to capitalise on this trend with its strong reputation for music and culture.”
Walking Tours in Glasgow, which offers a range of guided walking tours from street art to Mackintosh and the city centre to bespoke tours, is just one of the city-based businesses already reaping the benefits of the rise of event-based tourism and surge in ‘set-jetter’ tourists.
Liv Barber, Co-founder & Managing Director at Walking Tours in Glasgow, told The Herald: “Approximately 50% of visitors who take part in the Glasgow walking tours hail from the USA and Canada – up from 40% in 2022 – while the other 50% is made up of “Europeans, Australians and Brits.
“The Europeans and the Brits are often here for a long weekend or they are tying a visit in with an event, whether it’s a gig or something else that’s on in the city. They tend to be visiting just Glasgow. But the North Americans normally visit Glasgow as part of a wider [Scotland] trip.”
Ms Barber also believes Glasgow’s burgeoning popularity as a Hollywood filming destination is attracting more visitors to the city.
She added: “Glasgow’s featured as the back-drop to such a variety of films that it’s attracting a good diversity of visitors to the city. Our ‘Film Fanatics Tours’ which we originally created in partnership with the Glasgow Film Theatre during Glasgow Film Festival. We now offer it as a private tour year-round.”
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