Eurovision: It’s more than just a song contest

Bangor Business School’s latest podcast has now been released and is available to listen and share. This month the focus is on the Eurovision Song Contest, with the Liverpool due to host the 67th Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday 13th of May on behalf of Ukraine. In the weeks leading up to the main event up to a quarter of a million visitors from throughout Europe and the UK are expected to descend upon Liverpool, where the competition will be hosted. In the lead up to the event the distinctive branding for the event; bright yellows, blues, and magenta can be seen throughout the city whilst city businesses and community groups offer a wide variety of Eurovision themed activities and workshops for tourists and the local community.

Dr Sonya Hana (Lecturer in Marketing) and Dr Linda Osti (Senior Lecturer in Tourism Management) discuss how the Eurovision Song Contest is more than just a song competition; it is an increasingly important tourism and place marketing strategy. 

Dr Sonya Hana is She sits on the management board for the 'Places of Climate Change' (PloCC) Research Centre at the University, is an editorial board member for the Journal of Place Management and Development, and a member of the scientific committee for the International Place Branding Association (IPBA).  Her research is place focused considering aspects of the place branding process from various perspectives, but more recently looking at sustainability, sustainable tourism, and places and climate change. 

Linda Osti is senior lecturer in Tourism Management at Bangor Business School. She holds a PhD from Victoria University (Australia) with a thesis on consumer behaviour in tourism. Before joining Bangor University, she worked at the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano (Italy), Victoria University, and Southern Cross University in Australia. She has been involved in several research projects in cooperation with national and international universities and industry partners. Her main areas of research expertise relate to consumer behaviour in tourism, authenticity, and sustainable tourism.

Listen now - https://anchor.fm/bangorbusinesspodcast