Liverpool Douze Points as Visit Britain milks the Eurovision tea

Image of the week: Here Comes The Sun

In a distinct change of key from the coronation, the understated by comparison Eurovision Song Contest has temporarily taken over as Britain’s number one tourism magnet, with 100,000 visitors expected to land in Liverpool throughout this week.

Some will gather at the city’s Eurovision Village at Pier Head, watching the event on big screens, others will drop in on “capital of pop” attractions such as the Beatles Story museum on Albert Dock – which has duly extended its opening hours in the hope of being “rammed at the door”.

With the estimated worldwide television audience for the European Broadcasting Union’s Eurovision extravaganza standing at 160 million, tourist agency Visit Britain is poised to milk the moment, adapting its “Spilling the Tea” marketing campaign to one called “Eurovision Tea”.

“Whatever your cup of tea, we’ve got it,” it tells its target audience of potential tourists – a line that will read like a bold claim to anyone familiar with the narrative of empty supermarket shelves in post-Brexit Britain.

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In numbers: Sleeper flights

€230-€350

Price that Air New Zealand plans to charge passengers to spend four hours in a bunk bed in a six-person cabin, under its “world first” design for an economy class sleeper pod.

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Minutes transition time that the airline needs between four-hour sessions in the “skynest” cabin to change the bedding before the next batch of sleepers have a go. Skynest, incidentally, is not to be confused with Skynet (of The Terminator fame).

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Session allowed per flight, so there’s no chance of doubling up for a full night’s sleep. Instead, the lights “gently” come on at the end of the session, and the airline crew will “politely” wake any passengers who sleep through this.

Getting to know: Search Generative Experience

Another week, another development in AI that threatens to plague us all. That’s not quite how Google sees it, of course.

It has now opened up sign-ups to its Search Labs to people who would like to access its new Search Generative Experience, a Microsoft-rivalling, AI-powered tool for finding the answer(s) to life, the universe and everything via the medium of online search.

“We’re again reimagining what a search engine can do,” said Google executive Elizabeth Reid. Her example of an “entirely new type” of question that could be asked the search facility invoked an age-old dilemma: which US national park in the state of Utah is best to visit if you have kids under three and a dog, Bryce Canyon or Arches?

Search Generative Experience will do the “heavy lifting” on an answer, says Reid, offering “links to dig deeper”, then “suggest” follow-up questions such as “how long to spend at Bryce Canyon with kids?”

So it’s Bryce Canyon, then.

The list: Retail performance

So far, 2023 has been a mixed year for fashion retailers contending with the squeeze on their customers’ disposable incomes as well as their own rise in costs. So how are some of the key names faring?

1. H&M. The Swedish giant posted a better-than-expected first-quarter profit, but its March sales were dented by unusually cold weather in its key markets, leaving spring clothing on the rails.

2. Asos: Online fashion outfit Asos, which now owns the Topshop brand, has reported heavy losses and warned that trading is “very challenging”. Uh oh.

3. Inditex: Cost-of-living crisis, what cost-of-living crisis? The Zara owner has closed more than 1,000 shops over the last three years, but plans to invest €1.6 billion in new stores and warehouse expansion.

4. Shein: The Chinese online fast-fashion group beloved of Generations Z and Alpha predicts its revenues will more than double to $60 billion (€55 billion) by 2025.

5. Nike: The sportswear behemoth recently raised its full-year revenue outlook, but flagged margin pressures as it seeks to shift excess inventory. It can take comfort in the fact that its woes seem far lesser than those of rival Adidas.