Taylor Swift’s “Eras” tour stretches across 17 states and five continents with Swift performing at an impressive 131 concerts in total. Despite being in the public sphere since 2006, this tour really cemented “Taylor Swift” as a household name.
The famous singer-songwriter is on track to surpass $1 billion dollars in ticket sales alone. On average, a resale ticket costs $1,607, which is 741% higher than Swift’s previous 2018 tour “Reputation” according to SeatGeek. Talk about coming back stronger than a 90s trend.
However, going to an enchanted Taylor Swift concert is expensive beyond just the ticket price. There’s the hotels, the transportation, the outfits, the food, and the merch. In a survey of 862 people by QuestionPro, each attendee spent “an average of $291.62 each on their outfits, $214.80 on merchandise, and $131.48 for food and drinks.”
Overall, the study estimated that the “Eras” tour ― in its entirety ― will have an economic impact of approximately $5 billion dollars, which is more than the gross domestic product of 50 countries.
Furthermore, many US states are still recovering from the economy of the pandemic. However, according to Booking.com, hotel prices tripled in preparation for the “Eras” tour in cities including Pittsburgh, Minneapolis, Kansas City, and Missouri.
Despite the delicate and slow recovery of tourism, Philadelphia had since reported May as being their strongest month in hotel revenue since the onset of the pandemic. A large portion of which came from guests traveling to attend the “Eras” tour.
Back to October 2022; CEO’s were not optimistic about the state of the economy. In a survey by a big four tax advisory firm, KPMG, 91% of CEO’s said they are anticipating a recession. Only a third of them believed it would be short-lived and mild. However, as of August 2023, economists and forecasters are never getting back together with recession predictions. So congrats; we survived the great war.
A portion of the credit for avoiding the recession should go to the “Eras” tour; however, many other consumer purchases have influenced it. This includes the overwhelming purchase of “Barbie” movie tickets and BMW motorcycles. Not to forget the impact of Beyonce concerts, as well as beautifying cosmetic surgeries increasing ever since the pandemic. Overall, economists from JPMorgan, Chase, and Bank of America are expecting continued economic growth well throughout 2024.
As of February 2023, Swift has been named no.9 on Forbes’ list of The World’s Highest-Paid Entertainers and her tours success has only made her richer. Yet the star is generous with her earnings; due to Swift’s donations to local food banks in cities which she has performed in, many in need have benefited. For example, at the Arizona Food Bank “several tractor-trailers filled with 40,000 pounds of fresh produce to its member food banks” were donated.
Furthermore it has been reported that the artist has given out bonuses to those working at her shows totaling in over $55 million. All 50 of Swift’s truck drivers received a $100,000 bonus accompanied by handwritten notes from the singer before the second day of her tour in Santa Clara, CA. The truck drivers really had the best day; the CEO of Shomotion trucking company described the checks as “generous” and “life changing”.
In short, Swifites know all too well of the power that Taylor Swift holds. So the next time America’s booming economy is mentioned, I bet you’ll think about her. For the time being, Taylor Swift has announced the re-release of her album “1989” for fans to look forward to. Yet, whatever this mastermind is thinking of doing next, it is guaranteed the U.S. won’t be ready for it.
