‘Third of Britons’ to tune into Eurovision

MORE than a third of Britons will be tuning into this week’s Eurovision Song Contest, with some dressing up in national costumes, new research suggests.

Airline easyJet said its study of 2,000 adults found that many people will hold house parties while they watch the competition in which Harrogate-born Olly Alexander will compete for the UK.

The airline said it will fly 40,000 visitors from across Europe into Copenhagen Airport, which provides direct access to the host city of Malmo in Sweden, where the semi-final and final events will take place.

The UK led the ranking of nations whose fans bought tickets for one of the Eurovision live final events, accounting for a fifth of all ticket sales, said easyJet, the contest’s official airline partner.

Many of those surveyed said last year’s finals in Liverpool had inspired them to travel to the contest.

One in three respondents said they will tune in to the contest this week, including Saturday’s final.

A special flight was laid on by easyJet on Monday from Gatwick Airport, with many passengers in fancy dress and an onboard talent show.

Michael Brown, director of cabin services at easyJet, said the flight was a “memorable adventure”.

Meanwhile the Swedish Police Authority has said that Eurovision Song Contest fans should not be “worried” amid tensions being high following the outbreak of war in the Gaza strip.

The event is being held as the threat level in the country remains just below the highest level.

Jimmy Modin, press officer for the Swedish police, said: “The threat assessments are primarily for the security service, but we can state that Sweden as a country is on a four on a five-point terror threat level scale.

“And of course, we include this in our planning work with the security measures that we’re taking for the Eurovision Song Contest but it’s important note that there’s no direct threat to Eurovision.”

He also confirmed that there will be a pro-Palestinian march tomorrow, when Israel’s Eden Golan competes in the second semi-final with Hurricane.

“The demonstrators are going to march from one square to another square in Malmo,” Mr Modin added.

“We anticipate that there’s going to be a lot of people joining this