From blank canvas to tourist hotspots, how murals bring unexpected benefits to cities

Now it’s emerged that murals have a much broader role to play beyond just brightening up sometimes dreary town and city centres. National tourism body VisitScotland says Glasgow’s crop of murals are stirring up rising interest among tourists to the city. (Image: PA) Interest in Glasgow’s urban art has created a ripple effect, driving up demand for visitor experiences that allow people to delve into the stories behind the murals. As the number of neighbourhoods with murals expands, VisitScotland says there are growing opportunities for tourism operators to grow their business and develop their product range into new parts of the city. Its ‘insights’ research has found the average monthly search volume in the UK for the term ‘Glasgow Mural Trail’ during 2024 is up by nearly a third on last year’s figures. While its own website pages highlighting the Glasgow Mural Trail have had over 130,000 visits online in the last five years. Glasgow has become a vibrant hotspot for urban artists, among them hyper-realistic mural artist, Sam Bates, aka Smug, whose huge gable end murals are created entirely freehand using aerosol cans. His works include the High Street mural of city patron saint St Mungo, depicted with a...