Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour Comes to Theaters, Projected $5 Billion Economic Impact
Taylor Swift has potentially become the most impactful singer — ever.
Fans, popularly referred to as “Swifties,” and those with poor taste in music (I kid) have to agree: Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour is already having a monumental impact on the U.S. economy — and it’s not even over.
The first leg of Swift’s Eras Tour concluded after she performed six back-to-back shows in Los Angeles, California at the new SoFi stadium, which she sold out, by the way. According to the California Center for Jobs and the Economy, the shows gave a $320 million boost to LA County’s gross domestic product (GDP). The tour created 3,300 jobs in LA alone and increased local earnings by $160 million.
“Online research group QuestionPro estimated that the U.S. leg of the tour will generate $5 billion in economic impact, ‘more than the gross domestic product of 50 countries,’ according to the researchers.”
PollStar
Last week, Swift kicked off the first leg of her international tour, starting in Mexico City, where she broke another concert stadium record, becoming the most-attended female performer at the stadium ever, a record previously held by Madonna in 1987. This tour has broken not just the internet, or multiple records, but the economy.
If the economic projections remain consistent throughout the rest of her tour, Swift will achieve the monumental milestone of the largest-grossing tour in music history. Time Magazine estimates that by March 2024, halfway through the second leg of her tour, she is expected to gross more than $1 billion. This means she would surpass Elton John’s multi-year farewell tour which holds the current record at $939 Million. The Eras Tour concludes in November of 2024.
The Federal Reserve expects the Eras Tour to have a nearly $5 billion dollar economic impact worldwide when it comes to consumer spending.
Concertgoers are heavily impacting the hospitality and travel industries from their expeditions to attend every single sold-out show. In fact, on average, each Swiftie has spent approximately $1,300 on travel expenses, lodging, food, and eras-themed outfits, providing a significant boost to the U.S. economy.
In Nashville, hotels brought in a record $37.34 million in revenue in two days from Swift’s back-to-back concerts in Music City. Chicago’s hospitality industry also broke records as 44,000 people filled hotel rooms across the city two nights in a row for Swift’s concerts.
“It is not an overstatement to say that [the] tourism [from Swift’s] events has been a huge benefit to communities,” Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce President and Chief Executive Rachel Smith said. Smith explained that many cities, including Seattle, are “still navigating some of the challenges that have been caused by the pandemic,” specifically citing the drop in tourism.
Seattle’s welcomed 1.15 million visitors the weekend of Swift’s performances, the largest number of tourists to visit the area in one weekend since 2018.
Over the course of the following year, Swift will be touring internationally, and on Thursday, she announced the groundbreaking release of her movie and concert experience, “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” which will be in theaters on October 13, 2023.
The moment tickets went on sale, Swift dominated the ticket market. To prepare for the influx of tickets, AMC revamped their website — to avoid an embarrassing TicketMaster situation. If you aren’t familiar, Taylor Swift’s unheard-of popularity broke the platform. Plain and simple.
The company even issued a statement to confirm: “Due to extraordinarily high demands on ticketing systems and insufficient remaining ticket inventory to meet that demand . . . public on-sale for Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour has been canceled.”
AMC wasn’t going to repeat the rookie mistake, so the theater giant planned ahead, preparing the website “to handle more than five times the largest influx of ticket-buying traffic the company has ever experienced before.”
The film will only play in theaters on weekends beginning October 15 and ending November 5, just before the Eras Tour begins once again. The best part? Tickets for children will only cost $13.13 (if you know, you know) and adult tickets will cost $19.89 — because she will be releasing her album, “1989 Taylor’s Version” 13 days after the release of her film.
The announcement of the film’s release date even prompted movie franchise the “Exorcist” to shift its scheduled release date — unwilling to compete with Swift — an effective marketing strategy. The film’s creator Jason Blum even joined in on the hype, posting “#Exorswift” and “Look what you make me do.”
In less than 24 hours, ticket sales for Swift’s movie have already surpassed $10 million. Billboard estimates that the Eras Tour has already become the highest-grossing concert by a female artist in history. Bloomberg estimates the average Swift concert has grossed $13 million at each city stop.
Taylor Swift’s dedicated, albeit somewhat overzealous, fans won’t stop supporting her until she has broken every known record a musician can possibly break.
“Nothin’ lasts forever, but this is gettin’ good now.” —”Wildest Dreams,” 1989
