Taylor Swift is reigniting a “Gold Rush” in California as the final leg of her record-breaking U.S. Eras Tour comes to Santa Clara and Los Angeles with massive fanfare at the sold-out concerts.
The cultural phenomenon is on track to boast the highest-grossing musical tour of all time, with more than $1 billion in revenue anticipated — along with a big boost to the economies of the cities in which she sets foot. Over the last several months, the impact of the tour has trickled down from Swift herself to the entire U.S. economy, with one estimate from market research firm QuestionPro predicting her tour could generate $4.6 billion in spending across the country.
The preliminary numbers from cities that Swift has already passed through are staggering.
Visit Pittsburgh estimated $46 million in direct spending in Allegheny County, while Cincinnati Regional Chamber’s Center for Research and Data and Visit Cincy said the tour brought in more than $90 million to the greater Cincinnati area. The numbers aren’t in for the popstar’s visit to Denver earlier this month, but policy think tank Common Sense Institute estimated her concert could contribute $140 million to Colorado’s GDP this year, with attendees spending on average $1,327 on tickets, travel, merchandise, hotels and food.
The phenomenon has been dubbed “Swiftonomics,” and tourism and economic experts are expecting big numbers when she closes out her U.S. tour in the Golden State with shows Friday and Saturday at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara and August 3-5, 7-9 at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles.
Christine Lawson, the CEO of Discover Santa Clara, said that when the Eras Tour was announced last year, “the phones started ringing off the hook” at hotels in the Mission City, and most local hotel rooms sold out almost immediately. Normally, she said, weekends tend to be a slower time for hotels in Santa Clara — especially in the summer months.
While Levi’s Stadium has held large-scale events in the past, including Super Bowl 50 in 2016, Santa Clara has never seen a concert sell out nearly all of its hotels, according to Lawson.
“This particular show looks to be something that is going to be one of the ones we measure against in the future due to her strong reach and the diversity of her followers,” she said. “There’s just such a wide net that she casts. It looks to be an incredibly strong and unique impact that we’ll have for Santa Clara.”
Sanjay Sharma, an adjunct professor of finance at USC’s Marshall School of Business, said that Swift, along with Beyoncé, has ushered in a new era of tour economics.
Fans who already are dropping several hundred to more than $1,000 on a ticket are looking for an “all-in experience,” he said. That means dressing head-to-toe in your favorite Swift era, waiting in long lines to buy merchandise, and of course, posting about it on Instagram.
Businesses have also been cashing in on the Swift name, Sharma said, with pop-up shops and other events and marketing related to the concert that trickles down to the local economy.
In the Bay Area, Hilton’s downtown San Jose hotel is advertising free friendship bracelets — a trademark accessory for Swifties– for diners at its restaurant, Secco, today or Friday. Over the last week, Tony & Alba’s Pizza & Pasta near Santana Row has been posting to social media that it is reserving a table for Swift from Thursday though Sunday — just in case. If you happen to be at the table when Swift shows up, the restaurant said it will move you to another table, pay for your meal and give you another free meal at a later date.
Sharma said that Swift and Beyoncé’s concerts have become tourist destinations. When Beyoncé, who comes to Levi’s Stadium next month, kicked off her Renaissance World Tour in Stockholm, Sweden earlier this year, the city saw a flood of people traveling from outside the country who ultimately drove up inflation rates.
“If I’m traveling from somewhere where Taylor Swift is not going, it is likely now that the family will travel with you because you’re not going to a small town in Middle America, you’re going to a tourist destination, and that becomes kind of a bucket list,” Sharma said.
With all of Swift’s California shows in or nearby major tourist destinations that have high costs of living, the economics professor expects the impact on the state to be even larger than her previous tour stops.
That means California will certainly “Bejeweled” over the next two weeks.
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