What Taylor Swift's The Eras Tour Says About 'Passion Tourism'

Taylor Swifts European tour was the first thing that came to Nikita Rao's mind when she planned where to spend her summer vacation with her family.

Rao, her husband and two children, who live in Bethesda, Maryland, headed abroad last weekend: They have tickets to the pop star's concert in Amsterdam on Thursday.

The family spent a week planning an itinerary around The Eras Tour event, spending a few days in London before heading to the Netherlands for the show. They likely would have visited the two cities at some point in the future, but the Swift concert accelerated their planning, said Rao, 43, who also saw a performance in Cincinnati with her daughter last year.

“My thinking about it was, we have to do this — London and Amsterdam — because she's going to be there,” Rao said. “If I can get tickets, that will make the whole vacation great,” she said of her thought process.

Passion tourism is (not surprisingly) about people's passions. While location is generally important, these trips are generally guided According to experts, this could be due to personal interest, hobby or a cultural event.

This is not a new concept. In fact, there are many recent and future examples: the annual Carnival festival in February in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; the total solar eclipse in April in North America; the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, which begin this month; and the ongoing UEFA European Football Championship (known as the Euro Cup) in Germany.

“Memorable events are driving travel trends, whether it's concerts or sporting events,” Mastercard said wrote recently in its annual travel trends report.

More from Personal Finance:
Flying will be cheaper in 2024. But not for some destinations
Holidaymakers expect to have summer travel debt
5 Ways to Make the Most of Your Vacation Days

What sets Taylor Swift concerts apart from other passion tourism, however, is the huge interest and enthusiasm among Americans looking to travel abroad, travel agents say.

“I've never seen so much excitement about traveling and seeing an artist,” said Jessica Griskavage, travel advisor and founder of Runway Travel.

The most recent example that might come close is a Spice Girls concert in the 1990s, she said.

Griskavage, who planned the Rao family itinerary, also put together a separate Swift trip to Paris for a daughter, mother and grandmother.

More than half of Americans, 53%, identify as fans of Taylor Swift, according to a Morning Consult poll. About 16% consider themselves “avid” fans.

“Beyoncé is also popular, but we don't often get requests like, 'I have Beyoncé tickets to Europe and we want to build a trip around that,'” says Sofia Markovich, travel consultant and founder of Sofia's Travel.

She organized trips for two American clients who had tickets to Taylor Swift shows in England and Switzerland respectively.

“Just as Grateful Dead fans followed the band from city to city to become part of a unique community, Swifties — often with friends and family in tow — have made traveling to her concerts part of the experience,” said Joshua Friedlander, vice president of research at the U.S. Travel Association. wrote recently about the so-called “Swift Lift.”

Around 1.2 million fans will attend a Taylor Swift concert this summer in four UK cities (Edinburgh, Liverpool, Cardiff and London), according to a recent analysis by Barclays. Each fan will spend an average of £848 (about $1,073) on tickets, travel, accommodation, clothing and other expenses, totaling £997 million (about $1.3 billion), Barclays estimates.

According to an analysis by Barclays, accommodation and travel are the largest expense item after tickets.

Searches for Airbnb listings in European cities during Taylor Swift's The Eras Tour dates have increased by about 70% compared to the same period in 2023, according to a recent analysis.

Rome and Paris traditionally rank among the top destinations Americans visit abroad. But it's “inevitable” that Swift fans will end up in a city they previously overlooked, like Edinburgh, said Chris Nulty, Airbnb's global head of corporate communications and public affairs.

When tickets went on sale for concerts in Edinburgh last year, searches for accommodation in the city among Americans increased by 500%, Nulty said.

A concert “combines the opportunity to travel to an incredible place with the chance to see an artist you love,” he said.

The household economics of ticket sales likely also play a role, experts said. Some Swifties who were priced out of the U.S. market by ticket prices generally find it cheaper (or similarly priced) to buy a ticket and add the associated travel costs for a concert abroad.

“Ticket resale in Europe is much cheaper than in the US,” said Griskavage, the travel consultant.

Additionally, “I think it's really exciting to see her in a non-American city,” she added. “It's a fun opportunity and people are willing to pay to see her.”