The Taylor Swift Effect: Eras tour to give almost £1bn boost to UK economy

Taylor Swift performs at the Paris Le Defense Arena as a part of her Eras Tour concert in Paris. Credit: AP

Taylor Swift’s upcoming Eras tour will provide a £997 million boost to the UK economy, a report suggests.

Almost 1.2 million fans will spend an average of £848 on tickets, travel, accommodation, outfits and other costs to see the pop megastar at one of her 15 UK tour dates in June and August – that's more than 12 times the average cost of a night out, according to the Swiftonomics report by Barclays.

Eras tour tickets sparked a 15.8% year-on-year increase in UK spending on entertainment when they were released last July.

The average amount spent on an Eras tour ticket is £206, although 14% of fans, including those who bought VIP ticket packages with premium seating and exclusive merchandise, spent more than £400.

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After tickets, fans will spend the most on accommodation (£121), travel (£111), and merchandise (£79), while almost a fifth of concert-goers (18%) will buy a new outfit especially for the event.

The report, which combines hundreds of millions of customer transactions with consumer research on Swiftie spending trends, found fans will spend an average of £59 on a pre-concert meal at restaurants near the tour’s venues in London, Liverpool, Edinburgh and Cardiff.

A fan arrives for the Taylor Swift concert at the Paris Le Defense Arena. Credit: AP

One in four fans (26%) say they will have to travel to a different city in order to get to the concert.

But one in five UK fans (19%) with Eras Tour tickets will see Swift perform in mainland Europe instead, possibly due to ticket availability, cheaper travel and accommodation costs, or simply so that they can combine the concert with a holiday or city break, Barclays said.

As fans wait to attend the live show, 28% have watched or plan to watch the film of the Eras Tour, while 8% are planning to host or attend a Taylor Swift-themed party before or after her show.

One in five fans (21%) have bought the album Midnights, and one in six (15%) pre-ordered Swift’s latest album The Tortured Poets Department prior to its release.

The album was so popular that it made Spotify history after reaching more than 300 million streams on the platform in a single day.

Taylor Swift performs during "The Eras Tour" on May 5, 2023, at Nissan Stadium in Nashville. Credit: AP

A further one in six (14%) is so invested in Swift’s personal life that they have even started listening to her boyfriend Travis Kelce’s podcast New Heights, and the same proportion admit to having streamed his American football games because Swift was in the crowd.

Dr Peter Brooks, chief behavioural scientist at Barclays, said that whoever came up with the phrase ‘money can’t buy happiness’ "clearly wasn’t a Swiftie".

“There’s growing evidence that spending on experiences boosts happiness and well-being more so than purchasing physical items, especially if that experience is shared with friends and loved ones.

“When it comes to cultural icons like Taylor Swift – like we saw with Elvis and Beatlemania in the 50s and 60s – supporters have such a strong connection to the artist and to the rest of the fandom that the desire to spend becomes even more powerful.

“For non-fans, £848 may seem like an enormous amount to splash out on a concert, but for Eras Tour ticket-holders, every pound they spend is an investment in the memories they’ll create.”

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