Wednesday September 2nd 2026
Councillor Susan Aitken
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Sarah Hilley
A new council marketing team has been launched to bring more businesses into the city and boost property development.
Glasgow City Council’s Destination Glasgow aims to sell the good points of Scotland’s largest city to grow the economy, attract foreign investment and persuade people to work or study here.
The new strategy costing £1.7 million a year will see 35 staff working on efforts to make sure more people know about opportunities in the metropolis including Glaswegians.
Council leader Susan Aitken: “Feedback from the business community and industry partners was they felt the economic story of Glasgow was not cutting through some of the other stories about sport and culture and events in the way they wanted it to. We were flying under the radar.”
She added: “We need and are getting founders, entrepreneurs and folk who will create new businesses in the city.
“We also need people who will take on existing buildings in the city and invest in them – maybe not themselves but alongside development partners perhaps.”
She said there are some non-publicly-owned “challenging sites,” which are a “bit of an urban blight” that have “enormous potential to be spaces where innovation happens or people live”.
The Destination Glasgow organisation will combine the message of existing campaigns including Visit Glasgow and Invest Glasgow to talk about the city’s “strengths” under one voice according to SNP councillor Aitken.
Pointing out people know about the city’s service industry, councillor Aitken said they may not be aware of other sectors including advanced manufacturing, space and quantum engineering.
Council director of regional economic growth Kevin Rush said: “Today is a huge milestone for us.
He added: “The business community have called for this for quite some time.”
Mr Rush said it is also important to let young Glaswegians know about the work opportunities in innovative city industries.
He pointed out labour is being imported to fill jobs in growing sectors including space, advanced semi conductor packaging and health and life sciences.
Glasgow Chamber of Commerce chief executive Stuart Patrick said “If you are trying to recruit staff, attract investment or sell your company – what is it that Glasgow is known for throughout the world in different markets that will help that investment and those decisions to occur?”
A launch event for Destination Glasgow was held at the Glasgow Science Centre yesterday.
Glasgow is the UK’s second most popular foreign direct investment destination outside London.
An estimated £500 million of foreign direct investment was attracted between November 2024 and November 2025, supporting more than 4,000 jobs.
