PARIS – Paris authorities have spent years readying for the almost two million international visitors expected for the 2024 Summer Olympics, but they may have overlooked a far bigger phenomenon now coming to the city: Taylor Swift.
The billionaire superstar is playing four shows at La Defense Arena, just outside the capital, kicking off the European leg of The Eras Tour on May 9.
With a total seating capacity of 40,000 a show, the music event is a small fraction of the size of the Olympic Games. And yet the concerts are drawing five times as many Americans as the Paris Olympics, according to figures from New York-based luxury travel agency Embark Beyond.
For both events, trips would normally be booked many months in advance.
“I never would have anticipated it,” says Embark co-founder Jack Ezon. “Look at what Taylor did to the Super Bowl. She’s even overshadowing the Olympics.”
By that, of course, Mr Ezon is referring to Swift’s ability to broaden football viewership simply by supporting her boyfriend, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, at several games.
According to former Paramount Global chief executive Bob Bakish, her attendance was considered one of the factors that made 2024’s Super Bowl the most-watched broadcast in US history.
Now, Swift fever is reaching Europe, where many cities – including Paris – maintain limitations on ticket resales, preventing prices from reaching the five-digit sums that some consumers have paid in US markets.
Mr Ezon says among the more than 200 Paris trips his company has planned for Swifties, the average length is three nights, with clients usually staying at luxury hotels like the Plaza Athenee, Hotel de Crillon and Le Bristol.
Around a third of the groups are mother-daughter pairs who want to schedule shopping sprees around the concerts. Some 20 per cent of clients are also planning larger European trips to follow the shows, adding destinations such as London or the south of France.
The appetite for the blockbuster tour comes amid lower-than-expected demand for the Olympic Games, with many high-end vacation rentals slashing prices for the summer as owners come to terms with the overblown hype.
Hotel prices, similarly, have dipped more than 30 per cent in the past six months, according to data from travel insights company Lighthouse.
Olympics bookings could still pick up as the July 26 opening ceremony approaches, especially given the recent price drops. The pace of inquiries and bookings has increased 8 per cent following a 14 per cent decline in April, Mr Ezon notes.
Meanwhile, Swifties in Paris are especially excited to hear songs off her new album, The Tortured Poets Department, being performed for the first time.
Many critics have derided the 31-track album as bloated and mediocre – “a rare misstep”, in the words of British music magazine NME.
Such blasphemy leaves her devoted fan base seeing red – Paste magazine felt the need to keep its damning review anonymous, knowing all too well how her fans would react.
But a few bad reviews are unlikely to lead to a cruel summer for Swift – the album sold 1.4 million copies on its first day of release on April 19, and broke every streaming record going, reaching a billion streams on Spotify within five days.
Some 42,000 people will see Swift in Paris before she heads on for dates in Sweden, Portugal, Spain, Britain, Ireland, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Italy, Germany, Poland and Austria.
As for the Taylor effect in Paris – it should come as no surprise.
The 34-year-old’s tour remains a money-making machine beyond the wildest dreams of promoters and venues.
The La Defense Arena says it has doubled the previous record of merchandise sellers across its dates.
The mere mention of a London pub, The Black Dog, on her new album was enough to send a swarm of Swifties to its doors, potentially saving the struggling boozer.
Fans tracked it down after realising it lay close to the home of British actor Joe Alwyn, with whom Swift had a six-year relationship that ended in April 2023.
Soukeyna, a 16-year-old fan travelling up from south-west France for opening night, says Swift gives her “the feeling of being part of a community”.
“She’s a complete artist who writes her own words, and you really have to listen to the lyrics and understand them, which is something unique,” she adds.
Swift’s tour has given a boost to many economies, including Australia’s and Singapore’s.
In 2023, the first round of her US concerts contributed US$4.3 billion (S$5.8 billion) to the country’s gross domestic product, according to estimates from Bloomberg Economics. BLOOMBERG, AFP
