It is hard to imagine a worse time to launch a marketing campaign for an industry that has been badly hit by a global health emergency. But if anyone is going to do that, it would be Sir Richard Branson — a man who has investors queuing up to put money into sending people off into space.

The British knight took his first vessel, the 108,100-gt Scarlet Lady (built 2020), to Liverpool in north-west England this week to show off the hardware and concept behind his Virgin Voyages.