Coldplay's Music of the Spheres concert tour and Taylor Swift’s Eras tour are driving a boom in travel bookings in certain locations.
Fans are flocking to new destinations and offering a global boost to the almost-recovered hotel industry, according to new data on search trends released by travel technology company Amadeus IT Group.
The data reveals a direct correlation between hotel bookings, trips and concerts.
An increase in travel searches has been particularly noted for Melbourne, Sydney, Tokyo and Singapore, reflected in social media conversations and warnings about the declining availability of accommodation near locations on the itinerary.
According to Amadeus’ research, searches for trips to Melbourne and Sydney peaked in June, ahead of the release of Taylor Swift tickets on 30 June. There was a 44% week-over-week increase of searches for trips to these cities in weeks 24 to 26 of the year (12 June to 2 July), with hotel bookings in Melbourne reportedly increasing almost tenfold for Swift’s concert dates compared with the previous year.
🇦🇺Hotel bookings Melbourne had increased almost tenfold during @taylorswift13's Melbourne concert dates, compared with the previous year.
— TaylorSwiftPage (@swiftpage13) July 21, 2023
IHG represent said "we've seen occupancy levels as much as 70% higher than non-tour dates across many of IHG's Sydney and Melbourne hotels". pic.twitter.com/OBpdfIq2af
Much of this interest came from New Zealand, where the Eras tour will not visit. During the aforementioned period, there was a 240% week-over-week increase in searches for trips to Melbourne and Sydney from New Zealand, with the majority of these searches being for short trips (under a week).
Amadeus concluded: “This indicates that the concert significantly impacted leisure travel booking over business travel during the same period.”
Trips to Singapore also experienced surges in searches during the summer. The first spike came in week 24 (12-18 June) as Coldplay announced its tour dates for January 2024. The second came in week 27 (3-9 July), as Taylor Swift tickets went on sale for Singapore venues.
Bundles that included hotel stays drove custom to the Singaporean hotel industry, with STR finding that occupancy in Singapore for 2-3 March 2024 (Swift’s tour dates) jumped from 6% to 16%.
💡 | Klook, the official experience partner of The Eras Tour Singapore, has concert ticket bundles that include tickets to one of Taylor’s shows and also hotel stays and packages with activities and experiences.
— The Eras Tour Singapore (@TSTheErasTourSG) June 28, 2023
Prices are yet to be announced. pic.twitter.com/5xE2vXlNW2
Concertgoers and influencers warned of the need to book accommodation, driving bookings through recommendations of accommodation near the national stadium, where both Taylor Swift and Coldplay will perform.
Guyss!! Kemarin aku sempet nonton twice di singapore dan aku mau ngespill hotel yg aku nginep!!!! Berhubung banyak ni yg mau nonton taylor swift sama coldplay tahun depan di singapore 😋😋
— アルダちゃん。 (@aldapstsr) September 24, 2023
✅ deket kemana-mana (jalan 5 menitan udh dapat mrt rochor - bugis)
✅ ke national stadium… pic.twitter.com/MFbEwemol7
Japan has seen a spike in travel-related searches too, particularly around the announcement of the lottery results for Taylor Swift’s concert, which was made on 25 July. This correlated with a 15% increase in domestic searches between weeks 28 and 30 (10-30 July) and a 10% increase in international searches for trips to Tokyo in weeks 29 and 30 (17-30 July).
All three countries have seen recovery within the hotel industry since the lockdown, with GlobalData predicting a full recovery for Australia this year, and Japan and Singapore by 2024.
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