The Taylor Swift Effect will have a big impact on Aussie tourism market

Hotel and airline bookings have gone through the roof ahead of Taylor Swift concerts, as the “tour tourism” travel trend explodes.

They say to write what you love. And as two of my greatest loves are music and travel, it’s no surprise that for many years I’ve been trying to combine those two things whenever I possibly can.

I’ve been travelling to the US virtually every year for more than three decades, and many of my trips have had a music focus, from attending festivals such as Lollapalooza, Coachella and Austin City Limits, to self-curated roadtrips to a soundtrack, like the time I drove legendary Highway 61 from New Orleans, through Clarksdale, Mississippi, to Memphis and Nashville, following the trail of the history of American music, from jazz to Delta blues to soul, rock and roll, and country.

I once took a week-long road trip from LA to Memphis with my buddy Frank in a Datsun 180B with no air-conditioning in the middle of summer, specifically timing our arrival in Memphis to coincide with the anniversary of Elvis’s death so we could partake in the annual candlelight vigil. I delayed a west coast US roadtrip in 1991 to stay in Los Angeles and see Nirvana play, just a month after they released Nevermind, and a few years ago I did a stopover in LA on the way to New York just to catch a gig by my one of my favourite bands in the world, Canadian cult group Sloan.

Music has been my compass for much of my travelling life. And it turns out music tourism is very much in the news right now. Specifically, it’s all about “tour tourism”, the term they’ve coined for music fans tailoring an entire trip around a concert – or multiple concerts – by a favourite performer.

And when I say “tailoring”, well, you know I mean Tayloring.

Of course, superfans of Bob Dylan or The Grateful Dead have been following their idols around on tour for decades, but Taylor Swift is the modern-day pied piper who has taken things to another level. Wherever she tours, Swifties will follow in droves. And they’re willing to pay a lot to do it. Her current Eras world tour, which they estimate will earn a billion US dollars by the time it’s over, arrives in Australia in February. When tickets went on sale here, over four million fans competed to get tickets for her seven shows.

Taylor Swift’s Eras world tour arrives in Australia in February. Picture: Getty Images.

Swift is only playing in Sydney and Melbourne. As a result, people outside of those two cities are booking “Swiftcations”, taking holidays so they can see their idol, and having a mini-break at the same time. On top of the concert tickets, which cost anywhere from $79.90 to $379.90 for standard tickets up to $1249.90 for the most expensive VIP tickets, they’ll be spending money on flights, accommodation, meals, transport, sightseeing and other entertainment.

The Swift effect has been phenomenal. Hotels in Sydney and Melbourne reported bookings for February increased between 1000 and 9000 per cent from normal levels, while airlines were also seeing bookings rise exponentially. And as New Zealand was not on Swift’s itinerary, demand for flights over the ditch to Sydney and Melbourne around her concert dates increased over ten-fold.

In the US, various city visitor centres reported that on average, a person who spends $100 on a concert ticket to see an artist in another city, will spend about $300 in that city on food, accommodation and entertainment. Swift fans have smashed those figures, spending around five times that amount to see their idol and have a great time in whatever city she’s playing.

Hotels in Sydney and Melbourne reported bookings for February increased between 1000 and 9000 per cent from normal levels. Picture: Taylor Hill/Getty Images.

But it’s not just Swifties in their 20s and 30s fuelling tour tourism. Case in point – Paul McCartney, who chose to leave Perth off the itinerary on his recent Australian tour.

Mark Fenton, 61, a Manchester-born postman from Perth, and drummer in two local bands, has been a huge Beatles fan all his life.

“McCartney’s 81 years old,” he says. “I’m pretty sure he’ll never come here again, so it was a no-brainer to fly over east to see him play.”

As New Zealand was not on Swift’s itinerary, demand for flights over the ditch to Sydney and Melbourne around her concert dates increased over ten-fold. Picture: Taylor Hill/Getty Images.

Mark and his wife bought two tickets to the Brisbane show for $800 and decided to make an east coast holiday of it. They flew to Melbourne first and spent five days there, and then flew to Brisbane for the concert and spent three days in town. Their flights cost $2400 and their accommodation in both cities added up to about $2500. Add the cost of meals and other miscellaneous spending, and the total came to over $8000.

Was it worth it? “Definitely,” says Mark. “Seeing McCartney was amazing, but it also gave us an excuse for a holiday and to explore two cities we hadn’t been to in years and didn’t really know well. But we mightn’t have gone if it wasn’t for Perth missing out on the tour.”

Would he do it for anyone else? “Actually, we’re doing it early next year. Paul Weller isn’t coming to Perth when he tours in February, so we’ve booked tickets to see him at the Sydney Opera House. Unfortunately we’ve only got time to stay for the weekend, but come on, it’s Weller. It was an easy choice.”

Originally published as The Taylor Swift Effect will have a big impact on Aussie tourism market