The American pop icon filled a void the world was unaware of with her soulful music. And while her songs are hugely influential, Swift is also an economic success.
Her Eras Tour, which began last year shortly after the global pandemic, broke records as highest-grossing tour in history. Every city she performs in sees growth in business, whether from retail, food and beverage or hotel room sales.
Swift’s influence was so profound that the Eras Tour generated $5 billion in consumer spending in the US in just six months, Nomura estimates suggest.
The singer is now applying her economic clout in Europe to this brutal summer—and experts say its benefits could extend far beyond her American leg of the tour.
What makes Europe different for Swift?
Swift is performing more than 50 shows, including in England, Switzerland and Poland.
Although times and macroeconomic environments are different in each country compared to the United States, Europe as a whole has some common advantages.
“[Europe has] The public transport network is stronger than the United States and therefore it is easier to get to the location from a wider area. And so we think the impact is likely to be more widespread than just that 2.5-mile radius,” said Natalia Lechmanova, chief European economist at the Mastercard Institute of Economics. Luck.
That means people don’t necessarily have to get close to concert venues before attending, as they can bet on efficient transportation systems to get them where they need to go. It also helps that Swift’s tours are scheduled for the summer when people are looking to travel.
If that’s not reason enough, Swift is also set to perform new songs from the double album she released last month during her upcoming performances. That bodes well for the pop star’s American fans, many of whom already are flock to Paris in higher numbers than the Olympics saw Swift perform. Others are traveling to different parts of Europe to catch a glimpse of their idol.
Caroline Babinski, a 26-year-old who lives in New York, will fly to Zurich to attend one of Swift’s concerts in July. She’s seen two Eras Tour shows in the United States, but that hasn’t stopped her from going on another show — but this time, it’ll be in Europe.
“Booking in Zurich is much easier. When I tried to go to shows in America, I never actually got a pre-order,” Babinski said. Luckadding that the tickets were also a lot cheaper than the show she went to see in Philadelphia.
Babinski said she spent about $1,500 on the trip to Zurich, where she would stay with and attend Swift’s concert with her sister.
“I think it’s worth it,” she said. “The production of the show she is doing now is unmatched.”
Kevin Mazur—TAS24/Getty Images/TAS Rights Management
‘So will it last forever, or will it go down in flames?’
Lechmanova identified the strong US dollar and the growing tendency of people to spend experience rather than material goods as other factors driving American Swifties to Europe.
Economies around the world have had a tough few years dealing with interest rates. It took a lot of work, but inflation is finally starting to cool in most major economies, even if it is not as low as their central banks would like.
However, sudden demand for hotel rooms and food services ahead of important concerts could spur inflation in the short term. It happened in Sweden last July, during “Beyoncé blinked,” as core inflation slowed less than expected during the month of the singer’s Renaissance tour in Stockholm.
Is that a cause for concern in Europe with Swift’s Eras Tour? Not sure, Lechmanova said.
“It might cause a boom that day, but then it subsides. So when it comes to [the] impact on inflation trends in Europe, that’s really nothing to commend,” she said.
Nomura analysts wrote in a March report that although Swift’s concerts will pass by momentarily, they will have a more significant impact in smaller cities than in large ones. . The reason is that giants like London and Paris can attract large numbers of additional visitors in a way that Liverpool, for example, cannot.
In the UK alone, Barclays estimates the economy will grow by 1 billion pounds ($1.27 billion) as concert ticket buyers spend 12 times more than the average British person on a single night hang out. Swifties are feeding the mania by splurging on concert-themed movies and dressing to match the artist’s various “eras.”
A more localized impact could also be seen in Ireland, where Swift has three gigs lined up in June, said George Moran, European economist at Nomura. Luck.
However, he warned there was still a risk of overestimating the economic impact.
“U.S. cities and the locations of their major stadiums may be very different from the international cities Taylor Swift will visit in 2024,” said Moran, adding that any effect, as seen from Beyoncé’s blip in Sweden, is more sector-based (such as in the hotel industry) rather than having a noticeable impact at the macroeconomic level.
“If the effect is not visible in a small economy like Sweden, it is very unlikely to have a big impact on larger economies,” he said.
In any case, Europe has rolled out the red carpet for Swift and her string of concerts through August.
With fans swarming her in various locations, anxiously waiting to see her perform live, it seemed like Swift owned the summer.
