Hotels to get the ‘Taylor Swift lift’ from Eras Tour in Europe
AMERICAN pop star Taylor Swift’s global Eras Tour has made its way to Europe, providing the continent with a surge of flight and hotel bookings from her legion of fans.
Millions of Swifties – as her fans are called – are travelling from far and wide to see the superstar, Bernstein analysts Richard Clarke and Sabrina Blanc said, noting that demand for United Airlines flights from the US to Milan and Munich on dates coinciding with Swift’s tour in July has increased as much as 45 per cent year over year.
The analysts expect “all hotel groups and online travel agencies to benefit with their European business”, highlighting Accor, Premier Inn owner Whitbread, Booking Holdings, TUI and Melia Hotels International as the “key winners” due to their large exposure to the region.
But Swift’s tour across Europe will not be the only event hotels will be looking forward to, as a busy summer of sports with the Euro 2024 football championship, which kicks off in Germany this weekend, and the Summer Olympics in Paris, which start next month, also benefiting hotels.
Accor is poised to benefit most from the Olympics and the positive German market, with football and Swift setting the stage for a boost.
Meanwhile, Whitbread will provide a first-quarter trading update on Jun 18, with Clarke and Blanc stressing the importance of colour on current trading commentary and guidance – something that is expected to be positive as the company’s second-quarter begins with 10 of Swift’s concerts in the UK in June.
Repeating what happened last year in North America, hotels are going to get the so-called “Taylor Swift lift”, Clarke and Blanc wrote in a note dated on Tuesday (Jun 11), with revenue per available room – a key measure of profitability – set to receive an increase from Swift’s tour.
The Eras Tour has been a money-spinning effort from Swift, with the singer’s 53 concerts in the US last year adding US$4.3 billion to the country’s gross domestic product, according to estimates from Bloomberg Economics. Additionally, hotels in London have been cashing in during the UK leg, finding new ways to capitalise.
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