Hooray for Tay Tay's tourism dollars: why Swifties are a nifty money spinner

The thing is, other than an excuse to get 13 song references into a single paragraph (did you notice them all?), Taylor Swift really is the biggest thing in Australia's tourism sector right now. And her concerts are highlighting an important growing trend in the travel industry.

The economics of the singer's multi-billion-dollar Eras tour is quite astounding. If you thought it was hard enough to get a ticket to a concert, try to get an affordable hotel room in a city when Taylor's there! Melbourne, where she's performing this weekend, has recorded its highest February occupancy rate ever, beating other events like the Australian Open and New Year's Eve.

For her concerts in Sydney next weekend, the cheapest hotel still available is $300 for a single room (with shared bathroom) overlooking Parramatta Road, while most luxury brands are charging between $1200 and $1500 a night for a standard room, more than double the usual rates. It's even got to the point where campervan company Jucy is offering a special Taylor Swift package where you rent a vehicle in the city and park it at a local caravan park.

The NSW government has estimated the four Eras concerts in Sydney will bring in about $80 million in visitor expenditure, with about 100,000 people coming from outside the city to attend the shows.

Meanwhile, Victoria's tourism body has launched a cute campaign using Swift's song titles to encourage concert visitors to do more in Melbourne: "Midnight Rain" to promote the Rain Room art installation in St Kilda, for example, or "Champagne Problems" to highlight the Nick and Nora's cocktail bar.

Around the world, governments have lobbied Taylor Swift to bring her tour to their countries, including a personal appeal from the Chilean President Gabriel Boric. As a 38-year-old music fan, he's likely a bit of a Swiftie, but there's also a financial reason behind the plea. Because the megastar is performing in so few countries, many fans are forced to travel to see her. After Australia, Swift performs six concerts in Singapore - and with none planned for places like Malaysia, Thailand, or Indonesia, you can only imagine how busy it's going to be that week at Changi airport.

Jumping on the Tay Tay bandwagon, Expedia has released an interesting report about what's been dubbed "tour tourism".

It predicts that travelling to see live music is going to be bigger in 2024 than ever before, with 44 per cent of people it surveyed saying they would go to a concert as an excuse to visit a new destination. About 30 per cent of respondents said they would travel further than needed for a concert because it might actually be cheaper - if you were based in Brisbane, for instance, maybe it would make sense to fly to a concert in South-East Asia rather than head to Sydney and pay extortionate accommodation rates.

Of course, this concept is not new to the travel industry. There's a reason governments place just as much emphasis on events as they do their destinations. Sometimes these events are invented just to fill a quiet spot in the calendar - Vivid in Sydney, Rising in Melbourne, and Dark Mofo in Hobart were all designed to encourage visitation during winter months. You're not likely to travel to Tasmania for hiking in June, but you might go for an arts festival... and see a little bit of the state while you're there.

In the case of really big events, a large factor is the promotion that comes with the spectacle, the Summer Olympics being the most obvious example. But we saw with last year's FIFA Women's World Cup that a destination can benefit from both international exposure and an influx of visitors spreading their money across local businesses.

Authorities have always competed for big sporting events but concerts never seemed to have had quite the prestige, with cities normally being chosen by the promoter because it makes financial and logistical sense.

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You have to wonder whether Taylor Swift is going to change this model, just like she has already changed so many other things in the entertainment industry with this record-breaking Eras tour.

You can imagine a situation where an Australian city would bid for exclusive rights to a blockbuster concert tour. Then, rather than two shows each in Brisbane, Melbourne, and Sydney, there would be six shows in just one of those cities, with everyone else travelling for them. The destination benefits from all the visitors, hotels benefit because they can double their room rates without any increase in cost, and even Jucy benefits when budget travellers choose to stay at a caravan park.

Is it better for the fans, though? Well, for those who need to travel, it's going to significantly increase the cost of what is likely already quite an expensive concert ticket. But if it can be combined with some tourism that they would enjoy doing anyway, then maybe it's just the impetus that's needed for that holiday (especially if it makes you go overseas to a cheaper destination).

So, while the industry is celebrating the concerts this month, are Taylor Swift's fans thinking it's the best day, or are they looking at the wallet and wondering if it's actually a cruel summer.