What will Taylor Swift's Eras Tour mean for Toronto's economy?

A family look at a Taylor Swift merchandise kiosk at Wembley Stadium in London, Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024, ahead of a series of Taylor Swift concerts starting Thursday. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

Toronto is expected to see an economic boost to the tune of nearly $300 million thanks to Taylor Swift’s upcoming Eras Tour, which will be making a stop in Canada’s largest city for a six-show run later this month.

In direct spending alone, Destination Toronto President Andrew Weir said, recent estimates suggest that the tour will bring in about $150 million.

“That’s new money coming into our economy. So that money continues to circulate and recirculate,” he added.

“You spend $100 at a restaurant, the restaurant then goes and re-spends that same money on labour, on ingredients, on a graphic design firm to redesign their menus, all those sorts of things. So that’s the what we call indirect and induced benefits of the spending.”

When adding it all up, Weir said, it amounts to about $280 million for the city.

“(It is) really a very, very significant infusion because that’s new money in our city. It didn’t start the day in our economy, but it ends the day in our economy and it’s how we grow our economy by bringing new money in from outside.”

While Toronto is no stranger to big events, there are a few things that make the Eras Tour special, he said.

“This is just the volume of people that are travelling. Because there are six shows and because this tour has been such a global phenomenon, people are really travelling from around the world to be here, and particularly because it’s the end of the tour,” he said.

“That creates a huge opportunity for the city because not only do we have all that visitation coming in in the moment, but it’s also a big reputational lift because people see that Toronto is… such an important stop on her tour.”

Swift will perform six sold-out shows in Toronto on Nov. 14, 15, 16, 21, 22, and 23.

Tourism still recovering from pandemic

Businesses hoping to get in the action should find ways to “attach” themselves to the Taylor Swift story, Weir told CP24.

“You’ve got a concert like this that’s driving all these thousands of people into the city and we have an opportunity, we as a city have an opportunity, to help these visitors see and do more beyond just go to the concert,” he said.

“There’s so many other Taylor Swift experiences going on, you know bars that have Taylor Swift drinks and we’ve seen things at The Zoo and Ripley’s Aquarium, and the CN Tower and other attractions that are building a Taylor script into the experience.”

He said the concert comes at a time when Toronto’s tourism sector is still working to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The good news is we’re working our way back from the steep decline we saw in the pandemic. The bad news is we’re still working our way back,” he said.

“Overall, our international travel is still down. American business is up to about 85 per cent of where it was before the pandemic but that still leaves a gap.”

He said events like this go a long way to help bring Toronto back to where it was pre-pandemic.

“We can’t stop trying to attract more major events… Those drive visitation, they drive spending, they drive real business in our community.”

Hotels, restaurants bracing for big boosts

Restaurants and hotels in the city are preparing for the biggest surge in demand as visitors descend on Toronto for the concert series.

Sara Anghel, president and CEO of the Greater Toronto Hotel Association, said the industry is ready for the surge in customers.

“Swiftmania will be sweeping Toronto at a critical time of year, when business travel is starting to wind down and holiday leisure travel has not quite picked up,” she said in a written statement to CP24.

“The economic impact of the Eras Tour is expected to be felt throughout the city.”

Many visitors have lamented about the high cost of accommodations, with some hotels in the core of the city surpassing $2,000 a night for a standard room during the Toronto leg of the tour.

“When there’s a busy period, when a Super Bowl goes to a particular city in the U.S., there’s a lot of demand so of course pricing is going to be higher,” Weir said.

“As any business, you’ve got to seize on these moments of demand… that’s just the way any sector works. The hotel industry is no different in that way.”

Restaurants are also preparing for a boost in activity during a traditionally slow period in Toronto.

‘A scale we’ve never seen before’

Restaurants Canada President and CEO Kelly Higginson said while the organization has crunched some numbers based on past concerts in Toronto, it is hard to nail down an estimate for how much more cash restaurants in the city will bring in as a result of the concerts.

“This is like a scale we’ve never seen before so we’ll have to wait and see,” she told CP24.com.

“We’ll certainly be getting the data shortly after and we’ll be able to report on that but it’ll be pretty exciting to see the impact over the days.”

She said the timing of the shows are ideal as restaurants typically slow down in November ahead of the holiday season.

“It’s pretty exciting to think about the surge, especially right now. We’ve had a drop in foot traffic and discretionary spending over the last number of months just with the affordability issues so we certainly welcome the activity,” she told CP24.

“We’ve just shut down patios and we had a challenging tourism season. It wasn’t as fruitful as we usually hope. So this is definitely going to be something we welcome and look forward to.”