Scottish cities bagged two of the top three spots in a poll of favourite travel destinations in the United Kingdom. Condé Nast Traveller, popularly known as the bible of the travel industry, named Glasgow and Edinburgh as the second and third favourite travel destination in the UK. According to readers of the international magazine, London was the most popular city within the UK. It was also the most popular city in the world, with New York City and Sydney coming in second and third respectively.
This is the first year that Glasgow has topped long time tourist magnet Edinburgh in the annual polls, jumping six spots between 2004 and 2005. Donald Anderson, leader of Edinburgh city council, said:
"London and Glasgow are both great world-class visitor destinations. A bit of healthy competition does us no harm and I wholeheartedly congratulate both cities.
Alex Mosson from the Glasgow City Marketing Bureau, said: "Everyone in Glasgow is thrilled that the city has been recognised by the readers of Condé Nast Traveller. To have gone from eighth place in 2004 to being category runner-up shows the tangible progress we have already achieved in changing consumer perceptions since the launch of the 'Glasgow: Scotland with Style' city branding campaign in March 2004. We will build on this success."
Glasgow has made giant leaps in exchanging its old reputation of being a grim industrial center to become one of the world's most dynamic cultural cities. Building on a vibrant music industry, exploding culinary scene, exciting retail options, and some of the friendliest people in the world, Glasgow is attracting record amounts of the tourist dollar. According to statistics from the International Congress and Convention Association, Glasgow attracted more than 3 million visitors who injected £700 million into the local economy. That is more than 3 visitors per inhabitant in Glasgow.
Although not included in the poll, the Highlands & Islands of Scotland posted even more stellar results with 3 million visitors pouring into the region, or 6 visitors for every one of its half million inhabitants.
