16-7-2023 (SINGAPORE) Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour is heading to Singapore, and fans from across Southeast Asia are willing to pay the price to see her perform. Malaysian fan Hilmi Hamid is among the many traveling to Singapore for the concert, having spent nearly RM10,000 (S$2,917) on flights, accommodation, and three concert tickets. Swift will perform for six nights at the National Stadium from March 2 to 4 and March 7 to 9, 2024, and about 300,000 fans are expected to attend. Tickets for the shows, which cost between $88 and $1,228, sold out within two days.
Hotels, airlines, and travel operators are anticipating a boom in March 2024, thanks to Swift. Accor, which operates over 30 hotels in Singapore, has seen a surge in demand for hotel bookings, with some hotels already fully booked. Pan Pacific Hotels Group has seen a 200% increase in bookings for March 2 to 9, 2024, compared with the week before tickets were released, with most bookings coming from Australia, Indonesia, Taiwan, and Korea. Digital travel platform Agoda reported 160 times more searches than usual for accommodations in Singapore, driven by regional neighbors, led by the Philippines.
Airline booking websites indicate that airfares into Singapore from Manila and Jakarta were about 50% to 130% more expensive during Swift’s shows, compared to similar flights a month earlier. Jetstar Asia reported a 20% increase in demand on routes such as Manila, Jakarta, and Bangkok to and from Singapore during this period due to Swift’s concerts. Traveloka reported a sixfold increase in flight bookings during the period when Swift performs, with demand coming mainly from Indonesia, Vietnam, and China.
Economist Song Seng Wun estimates that each foreign concertgoer will spend $300 to $500 daily in Singapore. Maybank economist Chua Hak Bin said being a concert hub would draw high-value tourists, while Associate Professor Walter Edgar Theseira from the Singapore University of Social Sciences said the most important effects of Swift’s concerts were encouraging investment in Singapore’s events venue industry and building Singapore’s reputation as a regional events hub. Despite the high costs, fans like Vanessa Wong are willing to pay to see Swift, saying, “Whatever the cost, I’m okay to spend it to see Taylor Swift.”
