Now that 2014 is drawing to its close, Glasgow can reflect on a year of success that promises to have long term impact on the city's economy.
Perhaps the most obvious will be on leisure tourism, and I've had steady feedback from businesses both at home and overseas that TV coverage of Glasgow during the Commonwealth Games was a revelation.
November's hotel occupancy, revenue per room and average room rate already show an upturn on last year.
I would be surprised if we don't begin to see more signs of an increase in visitors to the city next year, and I would hope that Glasgow will add up to 400,000 new visitors a year from 2016.
But perhaps just as importantly, delivering the 'best Commonwealth Games ever' shows that Glasgow has the ability to work effectively to deliver large complex projects to tight timescales and within budget. Government, business, academic and civic leadership pulled together and made it happen. Can we exploit that capability to keep the city's resurgence going?
Whilst 2014 was always going to be a hard act to follow, there are some fundamental changes happening to Glasgow and its economy that will grow in significance during 2015. One of these is tackling climate change through the City Council's Sustainable Glasgow initiative.
At the heart of this is the Energy and Carbon Master Plan, which is steering the city towards its target of a 30% reduction in carbon emissions by 2020. Glasgow is demonstrating a commitment to that target throughout 2015 by holding a Green Year exploring the issues in domestic heating, industrial energy consumption, transport behaviours, waste and water management and others that need new approaches to get those emissions down. Applying the strategic skills that delivered the Games should guarantee that Glasgow will deliver the target.
But there is more we can achieve. Glasgow is a city with a long history of achievement in using its engineering talents to solve technical problems, and turning those solutions into companies like Weir, Howden and Barr and Stroud (now part of Thales). The Green Year will raise the profile of the modern technical problems climate change is posing. The more that Glasgow business is involved in solving those problems the stronger both Glasgow and Scotland's economy will be.
Delivering a successful Games has boosted the confidence of Glasgow's leaders. There is no reason why the Green Year shouldn't be just as successful.
- Stuart Patrick is chief executive of Glasgow Chamber of Commerce
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