Glasgow City Council has launched a new tourism strategy aimed at contributing £1bn towards the economy each year.

The new initiative aspires to entice four million visitors a year to the city by 2016, with the projected growth expected to create a further 9,000 tourism-related jobs and fuel demand for a further 3,000 hotel beds in the city.

At present, the number of people working in the city’s tourism industry equals that of the financial, health and retail sectors.

Council leader Steven Purcell said: “The tourism industry has played an important role in the regeneration of Glasgow over the past two decades, and this strategy will help take the city’s performance to another level over the next ten years by continuing to grow its international profile.”

Glasgow’s Tourism Strategy has been developed in partnership with Glasgow City Marketing Bureau, Scottish Enterprise Glasgow and VisitScotland.

Tom McWilliam, VisitScotland’s area director for Glasgow, said: “We’ve set Glasgow a real challenge over the next decade, a tougher growth target than Scotland as a whole.

“That’s because Glasgow has the capacity, the infrastructure and the shared ambition to make that growth a reality.”

Existing tourism plans include Glasgow’s aim to host the Commonwealth Games in 2014 and the opening of the new Riverside Museum and SECC Arena.