A new tourism campaign aimed at boosting the number of American visitors to Glasgow has been launched in a prestigious advertising location.

A giant digital billboard promoting the city as a global attraction has gone up in the heart of Times Square, New York, one of the world's most popular tourist and shopping destinations.

Glasgow Life has teamed up with Delta Air Lines to promote new daily non-stop flights from JFK airport to Glasgow, starting on May 25.

The 15-second advert will be shown on a loop 60 times every day between 6am and 2am until May 5 on a HD screen, spanning 30ft in height by 60ft in width.

The advert features an image of the Gallery of Modern Art alongside the strapline Glasgow glows and is located on the corner of West 43rd street, with an estimated half a million people passing by daily.

The campaign comes on the back of Glasgow's newly launched Tourism and Visitor Plan 2023, which provides the blueprint for building the city's global profile as a tourist destination.

The heart of the ambitious plan, which aims to deliver an economic boost of £771m, is to help position Glasgow as the 'gateway to Scotland' and grow overnight tourism visits to the city from two to three million.

It aims to contribute an additional 6600 jobs in the city over the next seven years.

American visitors currently make 115,000 trips and spend more than £36m in Glasgow every year, making it the city's leading international tourist market.

Susan Deighan, director of city marketing and external relations at Glasgow Life, feels there is no better place to promote the city.

She said: "If we are to achieve our ambitious target of increasing overnight tourist numbers to three million by 2023 then it's vitally important that we continue to tell Glasgow's story in our key international markets.

"New York's iconic Times Square is regarded as the world's most prominent advertising location and a global tourist hot spot which attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors every day."

Delta Air Lines senior vice-president of sales and affairs for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Frank Jahangir, believes it can grow the company's footprint in the UK.

He said: "With the introduction of our new Glasgow service will now be operating two daily flights from Scotland this summer.

"Meanwhile, our hub at New York-JFK offers more than 60 convenient connections enhancing the travel options for passengers flying between the United States and Scotland."

Malcolm Roughead, chief executive of VisitScotland, also welcomed the plans.

He said: "It's exciting to see a stunning image of Glasgow lighting up New York, something we hope will inspire more visitors to come and experience everything that Scotland's biggest city has to offer.

"To further complement the high-profile billboard placement, VisitScotland is running a mobile-focused campaign to support the launch of Delta's new service from New York-JFK to Glasgow; reaching out to prospective visitors across the city and beyond."

Delta Air Lines' new direct, daily Glasgow to New York-JFK service will run throughout the summer from May 25.