Taylor Swift fans desperate to see the superstar’s Eras Tour are causing a spike in European air travel, United Airlines has revealed.
Demand for travel to Lisbon, Portugal, and Madrid, Spain, over the Memorial Day weekend is up about 25 percent compared to last year, the report said.
This increase is expected to continue into the summer as American fans flock to European cities – where concert tickets are significantly cheaper than for domestic tour dates.
Swift tickets typically cost more than $1,000 due to high demand and limited resale rules. In Europe the rules are much stricter.
Milan has seen the biggest increase in United passengers this summer, with demand for Swift’s July show up 45 percent compared to last year.
Taylor Swift fans desperate to see the singer’s Eras Tour are causing a spike in European air travel, United Airlines has revealed
Demand for flights to Munich at the end of July, meanwhile, saw a 40 percent spike compared to 2023, United revealed.
Bookings to other European cities where Swift performs in the coming months, including Dublin and Edinburgh, are also increasing, the airline said.
Many American fans find it cheaper to travel abroad to see the singer, even factoring in the costs of flights and accommodation.
This is partly due to European Union regulations that limit the amount of money ticket resellers can make – and a strong dollar.
For example, secondary market tickets for the concert in Stockholm, Sweden, earlier this month, the week before the show, cost just $300. CNN reported.
A round-trip flight from New York to Stockholm costs an average of $700, according to travel site Kayak, and a four-star hotel costs about $300.
That’s compared to shows in Miami last year, where tickets alone fetched as much as $8,500 on resale site StubHub.
The willingness to travel probably won’t come as a surprise to Swift fans, who are notoriously devoted to the star.
The U.S. leg of the global Eras Tour last summer generated an estimated $5 billion in consumer spending for the U.S. economy as fans traveled across the country to see the show.
A fan who traveled from Britain to attend the concert in Paris earlier this month told DailyMail.com that the majority of the audience were Americans.
Delta Air Lines also said this CNN that demand is high for American fans traveling to see Swift’s European tour.
According to United, demand for travel to Lisbon, Portugal, over the Memorial Day weekend is up about 25 percent compared to last year.
Some so-called “Swifties” have spent thousands of dollars on hotels, travel and costumes in preparation for concerts
It’s another example of so-called “Swiftonomics,” a term coined to describe the singer’s ability to influence the economies of the cities and countries she has visited so far on her global tour.
Some so-called “Swifties” have spent thousands of dollars on hotels, travel and costumes in preparation for concerts.
According to a recent report from Britain’s Barclays bank, more than 1 million Swifties will attend the UK shows later this summer.
It showed that the average fan is expected to spend €810 on travel, accommodation and other expenses, boosting the economy by a total of €953 million (€755 million).
“When it comes to cultural icons like Taylor Swift – as we saw with Elvis and Beatlemania in the 1950s and 1960s – supporters have such a strong bond with the artist and with the rest of the fandom that the desire to spend money becomes even more powerful. ‘Dr. Peter Brooks, chief behavioral scientist at Barclays, said in the report.