What Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour Says About ‘Passion Tourism’

By Taylor Swift European tour was on Nikita Rao’s mind when planning where to go for her family’s annual summer vacation.

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

The family built a week-long itinerary around The Eras Tour event, spending a few days in London before making their way to Holland for the show. They likely would have visited the two cities at some point in the future, but Swift’s concert sped up their schedule, said Rao, 43, who also saw a show in Cincinnati last year with her daughter.

“My take on it was that we should do it — London and Amsterdam — because it’s going to be there,” Rao said. “If I can get tickets, that will make the whole vacation amazing,” she said of her thought process.

It’s not just the Rao family.

Americans are flocking abroad to see Taylor Swift, perhaps the most prominent recent example of so-called “passion tourism,” according to travel experts.

Passion tourism revolves (unsurprisingly) around people’s passions. While place is also generally important, these journeys are general guided from a personal interest, hobby or cultural event, experts said.

This is not a new idea. In fact, there are several recent and upcoming examples: February’s annual Carnaval festival in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; April’s total solar eclipse in North America. the Paris 2024 Olympics starting this month; and the ongoing UEFA European Football Championship (known as the Euro Cup) in Germany.

“Memorable events drive travel trends, whether it’s concerts or sporting events,” Mastercard wrote recently in its annual travel trends report.

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But what sets Taylor Swift’s concerts apart in the realm of passion tourism is the widespread interest and enthusiasm among Americans who want to travel abroad, according to travel agents.

“I’ve never seen this excitement to travel to see an artist,” said Jessica Griscavage, travel consultant and founder of Runway Travel.

The most recent example he can come up with is a Spice Girls concert in the 1990s, he said.

Griscavage, who put together the Rao family’s itinerary, also arranged a separate Swift-centric trip to Paris for a daughter, mother and grandmother.

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

“Beyoncé is also big, but we don’t usually get requests like, ‘I have Beyoncé tickets to Europe and we want to do a trip around her,'” said Sofia Markovich, travel consultant and founder of Sofia’s Travel.

Arranged trips for two US clients who had tickets to 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, the Swifties—often with friends and family—have made traveling to their concerts part of the experience,” Joshua Friedlander, vice president President of Research at the US Travel Association, wrote recently about the so-called “Swift Lift”.

About 15.9 million Americans traveled internationally in the first quarter of 2024, an all-time high, according to Mastercard’s travel report. Consumers are also spending on travel at record levels globally, it said.

Passion tourism generally provides an economic boost to host nations, experts said.

For example, spending by tourists at restaurants, bars and grocery stores during the 2024 Carnival in Rio was 156% above normal, Mastercard found. During the solar eclipse, hotel sales within the total US course increased by 71%.

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

Accommodation accounts for the biggest spend after tickets, followed by travel, according to the Barclays analysis.

Searches for Airbnb stays in European cities during Taylor Swift’s The Eras tour dates go up about 70% compared to the same period in 2023, according to a recent analysis.

Rome and Paris are traditionally among the top destinations for Americans to visit abroad. But it’s “inevitable” Swift fans will end up in a city they might have previously overlooked, such as Edinburgh, said Christopher Nulty, Airbnb’s global head of corporate communications and public affairs.

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

A concert “combines the opportunity to travel somewhere incredible with the opportunity to see an artist they love,” he said.

Ticket sales households likely play a role, experts said. Some Swifties priced out of the US market by ticket costs may find it cheaper overall (or comparable price) to buy a ticket and add the associated travel costs for a concert abroad.

“Resale tickets in Europe are much more reasonable than they are in the U.S.,” said Griscavage, the travel consultant.

Plus, “I think there’s something really exciting about seeing her in a city outside of the U.S.,” he added. “It’s a fun opportunity and people are willing to pay to see it.”