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- The European leg of Taylor Swift's record-breaking Eras Tour kicked off on Thursday.
- The Eras tour is the first concert tour to gross over $1 billion, estimates showed.
- She's crossing the Atlantic at a time when several of the continent's economies are struggling.
The European leg of Taylor Swift's Eras Tour kicked off in Paris on Thursday.
Last summer, the "Tortured Poets Department" singer's concerts helped boost the US economy, driving up spending on everything from restaurants to hotels across the country.
Estimates showed that the Eras tour is the first concert tour to gross over $1 billion.
In 2023, the research firm QuestionPro estimated that the Eras Tour would boost US consumer spending by an eye-popping $4.6 billion.
Meanwhile, key business figurers ranging from Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi to policymakers at the Federal Reserve have noted the positive impact Swift's concerts have had on business.
Economists have even coined new phrases like "Swiftonomics" and "funflation" to refer to the idea that in the aftermath of the pandemic, Americans are more willing to splash the cash on live events that might lead to once-in-a-lifetime opportunities.
Now, after quick pit stops in Singapore — where Swift's big-money shows made the country mountains of money and sparked concert envy among its Southeast Asian neighbors — and Australia, Swift is set to embark on an 18-city European tour.
She could be set to give the continent's economy a similar boost.
Planeloads of American fans have followed her across the Atlantic, The Associated Press reported on Thursday, which is likely to fuel an uplift in spending.
When Beyoncé came to Sweden's capital, Stockholm, last summer, economists noted that her fans had spent so much on hotels and meals that they'd triggered a slight bump in inflation. This summer, the city is expecting 10,000 extra concertgoers to fly over from the US to see Swift.
Hotel booking statistics also help to capture the sense of how in-demand Eras Tour tickets are.
By August 2023, hotels in Cardiff and Liverpool in the UK — where Swift will be stopping in June — had already reached occupancy levels of more than 50% for her tour dates, hotel research firm STR reported, with rooms in Cardiff going for $230 more than they typically do.
In December, vacation rental data firm AirDNA found that demand for short-term rentals during Swift's tour dates in Vienna, Austria, and Warsaw, Poland, had already surged by around 2,000%.
The economies of Europe arguably need that boost in spending even more than the US did. The ongoing war in Ukraine has hammered the continent, with one country where Swift will play — Ireland — which was in a technical recession as of late last year — and several others, including the UK, having only just exited a period of negative growth.
Perhaps that means it's the perfect time to welcome back Miss Americana.