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The Taylor Swift Effect: How the Eras Tour is impacting the European luxury economy
By Shivani Dubey | 12 June 2024 | Culture, Wealth
With Taylor Swift seeing more footfall than the Olympic Games, we examine how the singer’s Eras Tour is bringing its electric touch to the European luxury economy
What do you say about Taylor Swift that hasn’t already been said? She is ‘Miss Americana’ — a global pop sensation with an impressive list of chart-topping hits and record-breaking accolades (she is currently the best-selling artist of 2024) to her name and a net worth surpassing a billion dollars. And she is currently on her most commercially successful world tour yet: The Eras Tour — a three-hour long journey through her musical catalogue — which began its economy shaking UK leg in June.
When she toured the US last year, her concerts brought an economic boom of $4bn to the country. The Eras Tour impact yielded similar results in Singapore and Australia. The Taylor Swift effect can now be seen in Europe, with the ‘All Too Well’ singer set to give a £1bn boost to the UK economy, according to the BBC.
Taylor Swift’s economic impact on tour destinations and businesses worldwide is truly impressive. She can name-check a South London pub in a song and make it a tourist attraction overnight. She can write an ode to Cornelia Street in New York and turn it into a Swiftie shrine. She can wear an item of clothing — luxury or otherwise — and it’ll sell out in minutes.
When Taylor wore a custom jewellery bracelet from US jewellery brand Wove Made at the 2024 Super Bowl, the brand saw a 5,000% increase in site traffic in that week, and a resulting 2,000% increase in sales. But this is not a new occurrence: Taylor’s 2019 collaboration with British fashion designer Stella McCartney on a limited edition apparel collection, for her album, Lover, told the same story: a sold out collection.
Now, a similar impact can be seen in the UK as her sell-out tour kicks off.
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BIG REPUTATION
According to data from Lighthouse, a commercial and marketing insights platform for travel and hospitality, in Paris alone, the Eras Tour has proven more popular than the Olympic Games, which is set to take place in the city from July. Taylor’s performances were the driving force for five-times more American traffic into Paris than is expected for the sporting competition. In fact, the Shangri-La Paris hotel saw a 120% increase in bookings for her Paris dates in May compared to the same time last year, with many American tourists planning broader European trips around the tour.
Embark, the New York-based luxury travel agency, has overseen more than 200 trips to Paris, with many Americans choosing to stay in luxury hotels like the Plaza Athénée, the Hôtel de Crillon and Le Bristol, per Bloomberg. Hyatt Paris Madeleine also felt the effects, with the hotel seeing a 40% increase in bookings during the singer’s Paris gigs compared to 2023.
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Meanwhile, in the UK, luxury hotels in cities including London and Edinburgh — significant stops on the tour — are seeing a surge between 10% to 35% in traffic and bookings. The Tree House Hotel in London has even created special packages with Swift fans (known as ‘Swifties’) in mind. Luxury retailers and restaurants near London’s Wembley Stadium, where Taylor will play a total of nine shows, have also reported a surge in bookings thanks to her impending arrival.
Not only is the Eras Tour an economic boon, it has also become a cultural phenomenon. Cities throughout the UK have transformed into a Taylor Swift wonderland, with many places pulling out all the stops by conducting themed events including drag brunches and academic seminars to celebrate her tour.
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CULTURAL MASTERMIND
Taylor’s impact on the economy is comparable to only a handful of artists — Beyoncé’s Renaissance tour or, in the 1960s, the original Beatlemania phenomenon.
Speaking about Taylor’s economic impact, Tom Corbett, head of group sponsorships at Barclays expressed how this tour is the UK’s “wildest dreams come true”.
“Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour…[has captured] the nation’s attention and brought a substantial boost to our experience economy, with retail, hospitality and leisure sectors all ready for it,” says Tom.
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“Fans are increasingly going all-out on experiences that resonate on a personal level, turning every concert into a potential holiday, every ticket into a cherished memory, and every event into an opportunity to splash out on new outfits, food and merchandise,” he added.
Taylor Swift is a certified powerhouse. With a tour that serves as a victory lap of her decades-long career, and a popularity trajectory that just keeps going up, she is proving once again that she never goes out of style.
And with Taylor returning to the UK shores after six years, the only question remains: are you ready for it?
Images: Paolo Villanueva