Business

Women’s Success Can Boost Economies

From Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour and Beyoncé’s Renaissance World Tour bringing in millions to the tourism and hospitality sector to 2023’s Barbie grossing billions worldwide.

Mar 14, 2024 | By Noelani Kirschner
Taylor Swift performs onstage at Levi’s Stadium July 28, 2023, in Santa Clara, California. (© Jeff Kravitz/Getty Images)

The final shows of The Eras Tour aren’t until December, yet Royce Chwin is already preparing for Taylor Swift’s arrival in Vancouver. The chief of executive of Destination Vancouver, a nonprofit promoting tourism, is planning for big crowds and eyeing Swift’s economic impact in similarly sized cities like Denver and Seattle.

In July, a pair of concerts in Denver added an estimated USD 140 million to the U.S. state of Colorado’s gross domestic product. The tour’s stop in Seattle brought the city a single-day record of $7.4 million in hotel and restaurant revenues.

“It’s such good news for fans and for our tourism and hospitality sector, particularly since early December is generally a slower month for major events,” Chwin told ShareAmerica of Swift’s plans to close her international tour with three shows in Vancouver.

The city was added after Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau joined other world leaders in pitching their countries or cities for a stop on the tour, reflecting the economic boom that creative women — and their legions of fans — can bring.  

Read More: Taylor Swift: A New Era of Music Busines

Beyoncé performs onstage at the Rogers Centre in Toronto July 8, 2023. (© Kevin Mazur/Getty I

Swift’s Eras Tour, Beyoncé’s Renaissance World Tour and Barbie, the 2023 film written and directed by Greta Gerwig, have grossed billions of dollars worldwide, while spurring revenue for venues, hotels, restaurants and other businesses.

  • The filming of Barbie in London created $100 million in revenue for the United Kingdom’s economy.
  • Swift’s six shows in Los Angeles in August created 3,300 jobs and spurred USD 160 million for the city revenue.
  • Beyoncé’s Stockholm concert in May 2023 so boosted consumer demand that an economist has suggested the show contributed to Sweden’s spike in inflation later that year.
Australian actress Margot Robbie, who played Barbie, arrives at the July premiere of the movie in London. (© Scott Garfittpsum/AP)

Read More: 10 Moments That Shifted Fashion in 2023

In the United States, where women drive between 70 percent and 80 percent of consumer purchasing decisions, the Renaissance World Tour has added USD 4.5 billion to the economy, according to Forbes. The Eras Tour is projected to gross USD 5.7 billion.

The economic impact is perhaps most noticeable in smaller cities. In Santa Clara, a California city of 127,000, hotels sold out for weeks around a Swift concert. “The moment the concert was announced … the phones rang off the hook at our hotels,” Christine Lawson of Discover Santa Clara told ABC News.

Swift’s two shows in Cincinnati in June and July were an opportunity for some businesses and nonprofits to join the festivities and drum up support. Pig Works, a nonprofit that organizes running races, set up booths outside the stadium offering free hair braiding, glitter makeup and friendship bracelets, all popular among Swift concertgoers.

Businesses set up booths near Paycor Stadium in Cincinnati before Swift’s concerts in June and July 2023. (Courtesy of Jackie Reau)

Iris Simpson Bush, chief executive of Pig Works, which takes its name for the outsized role of hogs in Cincinnati’s economic history, told ShareAmerica that not long after the pre-concert festivities, the nonprofit saw a bump in registrations for races.

“We had one of our largest fields of participants last October and think it was probably the good karma of supporting the” festivities before the concerts in June and July, Bush said.

This opinion column was first published on share.america.gov.

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