Glasgow 2014 worth £740m to Scottish economy

The Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games has provided the Scottish economy with a £740m boost over the past eight years.

The Post-Games Report, published by the Scottish Government, charts the impact of the Games since 2007 – the year Glasgow won the bid to host the event – and shows that the Games has also supported on average 2,100 jobs each year.

As well as the direct economic boost, the Games also helped Scotland’s labour market, particularly in Glasgow, with more than 11,000 young people benefitting from a range of national and local employability programmes.

Tourism was among the sectors to benefit too, with the Glasgow 2014 Culture Programme attracting a mass audience of 2.1 million and an estimated 690,000 unique visitors. Direct spending by those visitors has been calculated as £74m.

The report also found the Games brought significant investment in regeneration, with land remediation, transport infrastructure, and Games-time sports facilities such as the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome, Emirates Arena and Tollcross International Swimming Centre (all in Glasgow) now being used by the public.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon welcomed the report. “As this evaluation report also shows, Glasgow 2014 was about far more than two weeks of great sport,” she said. “The economic, cultural and regeneration benefits have been significant.”

“More than 11,000 young people across Scotland have benefitted from Games related employability programmes. In excess of 20,000 opportunities to take part through volunteering were created – at the Games themselves, the Ceremonies, in Glasgow City at Games Time and through the Glasgow 2014 Cultural Programme. One in ten East End households in the GoWell East study reported employment gains from the Games.

“Along with our partners, we’ve always been determined to ensure that there is a lasting legacy to the Games that starts in the East End of Glasgow and stretches well beyond. We now have 60 national legacy programmes in place, with the latest, a leadership programme for young people called 33Sixty, being announced today.

The report was co-produced by the Scottish Government and the Games Legacy Evaluation Working Group (GLEWG).