ALEX TURNER is the general manager of financial training firm Ambitious Minds.

HOPE can be a useful characteristic, in business as it is in life.

The hope that things will improve, that tomorrow will be a better day than today, can be what ensures that proposals are still written, sales calls are still made, and progress is still made.

The problem with hope is when it becomes mendacious and seeps into the rational element of our thought process.

Take the Sunday night coverage of the events in Libya. Rolling 24-hour news is problematic at the best of times, with the amount of information available rarely substantial enough to fill the time allotted to it.

Rolling news tries to solve the problem of the fog of war by putting its main beam on, but all you get is brighter fog. Having tired of Sky and BBC coverage, I flicked over to Russia Today, where the same events were given a very different spin. But, regardless of the broadcaster, in the place of facts comes supposition and optimism – it is invariably what the commentator hopes will happen.

But, by allowing hope to triumph over experience, or, more particularly, knowledge, we give up the only justification for our future actions.

That came to mind 24 hours later when I was with a group of business people in Birmingham, and talk moved to the official tourism figures for the Liverpool city region.

Scepticism increased as each piece of information was relayed.

The sector supports 41,000 jobs and boasts 11m visitor staying nights per year – averaging 30,000 people every night of every week. There are, apparently, more than 48m day visitors – not far off 1m a week.

Giving it more than a moment’s thought, it is obvious there’s either a problem with the data or with the criteria. It doesn’t matter which, but the consequences that flow are important.

These are the numbers that shape our perceptions and shape our city region’s policy. And, of course, if you believed these numbers were real, in the sense that the city region actually received a tangible benefit from 48m day visitors and 11m overnight visitors, collectively we wouldn’t have anything to worry about.

But, if those seem like inflated numbers, try this one: £75,000.

That’s the salary attached to the advertised position of The Mersey Partnership’s director of visitor economy. Is that position worthy of that salary? Here’s hoping.