Taylor Swift will perform on stage during The Eras Tour on June 28, 2024 in Dublin, Ireland.
Charles McQuillan/tas24 | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images
Taylor Swift's European tour was top of mind for Nikita Rao when planning where she would spend her annual summer vacation with her family.
Rau, her husband and two children, who live in Bethesda, Maryland, traveled abroad last weekend: They got tickets to see the pop star perform in Amsterdam on Thursday.
The family planned a week-long trip around The Eras Tour, spending a few days in London before heading to the Netherlands for the show. Rau, 43, who also attended a show in Cincinnati last year with her daughter, said they might visit both cities at some point in the future, but Swift's concert has accelerated their timeline.
“My opinion was we should do this — London and Amsterdam — because it’s going to be there,” Rao said. “If I can get the tickets, it’ll make the whole holiday amazing.”
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Taylor Swift fans gather outside the Santiago Bernabeu stadium for a concert in Madrid, Spain, on May 29, 2024.
David Benito | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images
It's not just the Rao family.
Americans are flocking abroad to see Taylor Swift, in what may be the most prominent modern example of so-called “passion tourism,” according to travel experts.
Passion tourism (unsurprisingly) is all about people’s passions. While location is also generally important, these trips are generally driven by personal interest, a hobby or a cultural event, experts say.
This is not a new concept. There are many recent and upcoming examples: the annual Carnival in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in February; the total solar eclipse in North America in April; the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, which begin this month; and the ongoing European Football Championship (known as the Euro Cup) in Germany.
“Memorable events drive travel trends, whether it’s concerts or sporting events,” Mastercard recently wrote in its annual Travel Trends Report.
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But what sets Taylor Swift's concerts apart in the world of romantic tourism is the widespread interest and enthusiasm among Americans who want to travel abroad, according to travel agents.
“I’ve never experienced so much excitement about traveling to see an artist,” said Jessica Griskavi, travel consultant and founder of Runway Travel.
She added that the most recent example that might come close to that is the Spice Girls concert in the 1990s.
Griskavij, who put together the Rao family's itinerary, also put together a separate Swift-focused trip to Paris for his daughter, mother and grandmother.
According to a Morning Consult poll, more than half of Americans, 53%, consider themselves Taylor Swift fans. About 16% consider themselves diehard fans.
“Beyoncé is also famous, but we don’t usually get requests like, ‘I have Beyoncé tickets to Europe and we want to build a trip around her,’” said Sofia Markovic, travel consultant and founder of Sofia Travel.
She put together trips for two clients from the US who had tickets to see Taylor Swift shows in England and Switzerland respectively.
“Just as Grateful Dead fans were known to follow the band from city to city to be part of a unique community, Swifties—often with friends and family—have made traveling to its concerts part of the experience,” Joshua Friedlander, vice president of research for the U.S. Travel Association, recently wrote of the so-called “Swift Lift.”
“It is inevitable that Swifties will travel to new places.”
According to a travel report issued by Mastercard, about 15.9 million Americans traveled internationally in the first quarter of 2024, the highest number ever, and the company added that consumers are also spending on travel at record levels worldwide.
Experts say sentimental tourism generally provides an economic boost to host countries.
For example, Mastercard found that tourist spending at restaurants, bars and grocery stores during the 2024 Rio Carnival was 156% higher than normal, and added that hotel sales in the path of totality in the United States rose 71% during the solar eclipse.
Spectators watch a solar eclipse at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis, Indiana, on April 8, 2024.
Noor Photo | Getty Images
According to a recent analysis by Barclays, around 1.2 million fans will see Taylor Swift perform this summer in four UK cities (Edinburgh, Liverpool, Cardiff and London). Each fan will spend an average of £848 (about $1,073) on tickets, travel, accommodation, clothing and other expenses, adding up to £997 million (about $1.3 billion), Barclays estimates.
According to Barclays analysis, accommodation costs make up the largest portion of spending after tickets, followed by travel costs.
According to a recent analysis, searches for Airbnb stays in European cities during Taylor Swift's The Eras tour dates increased by nearly 70% compared to the same period in 2023.
Beyoncé is also famous, but we don't usually get requests like, “I have tickets to Beyoncé in Europe and we want to build a tour around her.”
Sofia Markovich
Travel Advisor
Rome and Paris are traditionally among Americans’ favorite destinations to visit abroad. However, Chris Nolte, Airbnb’s head of corporate communications and global public affairs, said it’s “inevitable” that Swift’s fans will end up in a city they might have previously ignored, like Edinburgh.
Searches for accommodation in the city by Americans jumped 500 percent when tickets went on sale last year for the Edinburgh concerts, Nolte said.
He added that the concert “combines the opportunity to travel to an incredible place with the opportunity to see the artist they love.”
Experts said economic factors that affect ticket sales are also likely to play a role. Some Swift fans who have been locked out of the U.S. market because of ticket costs may find it cheaper to buy a ticket overall (or at a similar price) and add the associated travel costs to attend a concert abroad.
“Resale ticket prices in Europe are much more reasonable than in the United States,” said Griskavij, the travel consultant.
“I think there's something really exciting about seeing it in a city other than the United States. It's a fun opportunity and people are willing to pay money to see it,” she added.