21-05-2025
How popular is Airbnb?
Tall order
Two naval cadets were killed and 19 injured when a Mexican sail training vessel, the Cuauhtemoc, crashed into Brooklyn Bridge. How many fully-rigged sailing vessels are there in the world?
— Sail Training International lists 383 such ships which have taken part in races and regattas in recent years.
— The oldest still in use, Constitution, was built in 1797. It is moored in Boston as a museum ship but still undertakes voyages.
— The Australian navy trains sailors on the STS Young Endeavour, a gift from the UK government to mark the 200th anniversary of European settlement in 1988. Other countries which still train naval recruits on tall ships include India, Poland, Germany and Spain. China launched its first naval training tall ship, the Po Lang, last year.
Fish scale
What did EU membership do for our fishing industry compared with neighbouring countries and those with access to our waters?
Tons of fish landed:
1972 | 2022
UK 1.07m | 847,000
France 791,000 | 677,000
Spain 1.56m | 1.19m
Netherlands 348,000 | 367,000
(West) Germany 761,000 | 265,000
Denmark 1.44m | 669,000
Norway 3.12m | 3.76m
Iceland 1.44m | 669,000
Source: FAO
Bed spread
How big is the market for Airbnbs?
— Last year, 90.1m guest nights were booked via Airbnb and other 'online collaborative economy platforms'.
— The most bookings were in August (12.8m) and fewest in January (3.7m).
— 26% of bookings were in just ten local authority areas, with the most popular being Westminster (3.9m), Cornwall (3.4m), Edinburgh (3m) and Highlands (2.6m).
— Kensington and Chelsea had the highest proportion of international guests, at 85%.
— In the third quarter of 2023, the most international guests came from US (1.9m), Germany (1m) and France (763,000).
Betting the farm
How indebted are farms in England?
— In 2023/24 the average value of assets was £2.69m and debt £300,000.
— The average farm earned £57,000 in farm business income, £12,000 of which was swallowed by interest payments.
