Basel has been selected as the host city for the 2025 Eurovision song contest, announced the organisation on Friday. The promotional video for next year’s event is below.
The next event will take place in mid-May next year. It is hoped the event will boost tourism in the city. The decision was announced 10am. Twenty minutes later one hotel booking platform showed that around 99% of accommodation was already booked on the day of the event.
Eurovision can bring significant money to the host city. Liverpool hosted the event in 2023 and estimated that the event brought in around CHF 60 million of spending on hotels, restaurants, bars, shops and other retail spending. The costs must also be considered.
The first ever Eurovision was held in Switzerland in Lugano in the spring of 1956. Seven countries participated in the first contest. The winning song was entitled Refrain, performed by Lys Assia, who was representing Switzerland.
The song’s lyrics were in French. Lys Assia was a stage name. The singer was named Rosa Mina Schärer Born in 1924 in Rupperswil, Aargau, she lived until 2018, reaching the age of of 94. She began her stage career as a dancer, but changed to singing in 1940.
More on this:
RTS article (in French) – Take a 5 minute French test now
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