Taylor Swift’s record-breaking The Eras Tour to generate £300m for the capital’s economy – as London confirms status as the world-leader for music

• London is hosting more performances of Taylor Swift’s record-breaking The Eras Tour than any other city in the world, with nearly 700,000 people attending
• Tourists attending the London gigs are set to boost the capital’s economy by £300m
• New poll shows more people would consider travelling to London for a music event than other international or UK cities
• Capital celebrates Taylor’s first performance at Wembley Stadium on Friday night with murals, a special Tube map, a Taylor trail and a wide series of events across London’s fantastic venues

London’s status as a world-leader for music will be confirmed when Taylor Swift brings her record-breaking The Eras Tour to Wembley Stadium on Friday night – with tourists attending her eight performances boosting the capital’s economy by £300m.

The global music superstar is performing more times in London that any other city across the globe – boosting our hospitality industry, the wider economy and showing why London’s music scene is the best in the world.

It comes as brand-new polling from Visit London reveals that the capital leads the way across the globe as a home for music, with 54 per cent of people saying they’d consider travelling to London for a music event in the past year – higher than New York, LA, Paris and other UK cities.

The polling shows that 76 per cent would extend their trip after visiting a music event here, 77 per cent agree London offers a variety of music events and 72 per cent think the capital attracts the best international artists.

On Friday, Taylor Swift will perform at Wembley Stadium for the first of eight shows that will reach an audience of nearly 700,000 people.

Across London there are a huge range of special events and celebrations to mark the performances:

• Wembley Park is hosting two new public artworks, including a giant mural on the Spanish Steps, which are being temporarily renamed the ‘Swiftie Steps’. The steps, which connect Wembley Stadium and the OVO Arena Wembley, will feature ‘Auras’ by Frank Styles which is compiled digitally from over 30 separate physical paintings. Below the steps will be the ‘…Ready For It’ mural by MurWalls & HUMOR which features a portrait with lyrics interwoven across the installation.
• Transport for London (TfL) has reimagined the Tube map in her honour with an exclusive pull-out in Friday’s Evening Standard. London (Taylor’s version) sees each line named after a different album and drawn in sequin colours to match, with stations named after songs, and gemstones to reflect key locations with links to Taylor that fans can visit.
• A Taylor trail (#LDNTaylorsVersion) launched on Friday will celebrate places across the capital that are referenced in her music, with venues displaying new vinyl stickers in their windows to welcome Swifties and share other locations of interest. They include the West End, Soho, Bond Street, Camden Market, Highgate, Hampstead Heath, Vauxhall, Shoreditch, Hackney, Brixton and Kentish Town. The trail will be available on the Visit London website and through QR codes at participating venues from Friday.
• Visit London, the official visitor guide to London, has created an online guide for Swifties to make the most of London, including brunches, singalongs and quizzes that are taking place across the capital’s venues.

Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour has broken records across the world becoming the highest-grossing music tour ever, with venues selling out and fans travelling for many miles to watch or be near to the shows.

Her performances in London are the headline of a fantastic summer of international and homegrown music in the capital, including the Foo Fighters and Burna Boy at the London Stadium, Nicki Minaj, 21 Savage, J Hus and Doja Cat at Wireless Festival in Finsbury Park, Kylie, SZA and Stray Kids at BST Hyde Park, and Bruce Springsteen at Wembley Stadium.

All those attending these headline performances are encouraged to make the most of the capital’s fantastic range of culture and hospitality available, including the capital’s fantastic grassroots music venues. London’s hospitality industry has been facing a huge range of challenges to due to the rising cost of living and doing business, and the Mayor is encouraging Londoners and visitors to further support the capital’s culture and nightlife.

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “The Eras Tour has broken records and created huge excitement so I’m delighted that Taylor Swift has chosen to perform more nights in London than anywhere else in the world. Her eight performances will bring more nearly 700,000 fans from across the country and beyond to Wembley Stadium, providing a huge boost to our hospitality industry and further proof that London is the greatest city in the world to watch live music.

“As Taylor prepares for Friday’s opening performance, we are proud to give her and her fans a big London welcome, with celebrations across the capital including a special Tube map, trail and mural in her honour. I encourage Swifties to not only enjoy the fantastic shows, but also make the most of everything London has to offer, and hope that even more people are encouraged to enjoy the incredible live music available in our city.”

Kate Nicholls, Chief Executive of UKHospitality, said: “The pull of Taylor Swift’s shows in London has been exceptional and hospitality venues across the capital are ready to provide a warm welcome to fans travelling across the UK, and from further ashore. With Swifties attending The Eras Tour set to boost the capital’s economy by £300m, I’m certain we’ll see a love story flourish between fans and the world-leading hospitality we have here in London.”

Laura Citron OBE, CEO of Visit London, said: “We’re very proud that London is hosting more shows than any other city of Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour, a real testament to her love for London. The tourism impact of the tour is expected to be huge: with flight bookings to London up as much as 34 per cent compared to 2023, and hotel searches four times higher in the week leading up to her second leg in August. Music and entertainment continue to be leading motivators for visitors to London, and thanks to the quality and breadth of music events on offer here, our Visit London poll sees London rank above other international cities as the most popular city to travel to for live music. Beyond The Eras Tour, it’s going to be another packed summer of music as we welcome international artists like the Foo Fighters, Tom Jones, and SZA. With three quarters of visitors saying they would extend their trip after attending a music event in London, we’re excited to see Swifties from around the world make the most of summer in London.”

Lawrence Montgomery, Managing Director, Rough Trade UK, Shoreditch said: “Taylor Swift has been synonymous with the rise in popularity of vinyl in recent years. She has supported indie record stores like ours with limited Record Store Day releases and limited vinyl variants. We look forward to welcoming Swifties to London alongside the large number of great live music events London has to offer this summer.”

Nur Kanmaz of Soul Look, Camden Market said: “After a long wait, Taylor Swift fans have taken to the streets of London, brimming with excitement for The Eras Tour. As all Swifties know, Taylor is no stranger to London and in turn has left a trail of must-see spots. For example, in her song ‘London Boy’, she sings ‘I enjoy walking Camden Market in the afternoon’. As a result, it would take one walk through the market to see it has also become one of these iconic places and I can’t wait to meet many more Swifties in the coming weeks.”

James Saunders, Chief Executive of Wembley Park said: “In our 20+ year history at Wembley Park, we are proud to have created a globally renowned entertainment district, that hosts a variety of world class venues, including Wembley Stadium, and to have combined it with 365-day neighbourhood where people choose to live. We now welcome over 16 million visitors annually, and this summer alone are expecting over four million visitors from the UK and beyond with the arrival of Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour and our packed retail and events programme around the wider estate. London is a global hub for music and I’m incredibly proud that Wembley Park plays a fundamental role in maintaining this enviable reputation.”

Emma Strain, TfL’s Customer Director, said: “The London (Taylor’s version) Tube map brings two icons together, paying homage to Swift’s love of London and showcasing her extensive discography as diverse as the city itself. London is blessed to have eight dates for The Eras Tour, and we’re encouraging people to get out on the transport network to explore the many locales namechecked in Swift’s songs and see the exciting range of live music events across the city this summer.”

Notes to editors:

The estimate of £300million boost to London’s economy was calculated using data from UKInbound’s Tourism Statistics for 2018 Tourism-Statistics-2019.pdf (ukinbound.org), which showed that, excluding day visits, each domestic and international tourist to the UK generated about £396 to the UK economy in 2018. Adjusted for inflation (using Consumer Price Index including Housing – CPIH) this would translate to £471 in 2023. This figure was multiplied by 640,000 – the expected audience at Wembley Stadium across the gigs.

Figures from UKHospitality and CGA revealed London’s hospitality industry revenue grew to £46bn last year, up from £43bn in 2019, and sales outpaced the rest of the UK, growing on average 7.7 per cent a month, compared to 5.6 per cent nationally.

The ultimate guide to Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour in London - https://www.visitlondon.com/things-to-do/whats-on/music/taylor-swift-in-london. The Taylor trail (#LDNTaylorsVersion) will be available at this website and through QR codes at participating venues from Friday.

Flight bookings recorded by ForwardKeys correct as of 5th June.

Tripadvisor searches recorded as of June 2024

Polling of 3,000 respondents from the UK, USA, France and Germany who attended a music event, found:

• 57 per cent of people said they had either travelled to a different city or even country in the last year for a music event such as The Eras Tour.
• 73 per cent of people said that they would either consider travelling to another city or even country for a music event like The Eras Tour in the past year.
• 54 per cent of international respondents have considered travelling to London for a music event in the past year, ranks top of cities polled, including New York, LA, Paris, Liverpool and Manchester.
• 58 per cent said that they would choose London for a music event because the events they want to see are only available there.
• 26 per cent have travelled to London for a music event – the next highest figure is Barcelona at 7 per cent.
• 77 per cent agree London offers a variety of music events.
• 72 per cent agree London attracts the best international artists.
• 74 per cent agree London offers high quality events.
• 75 per cent think that London has a wide choice of venues.
• 76 per cent would extend their trip after visiting a music event in London - tied with Paris and Milan for the highest percentage.
• 39 per cent said that they would travel for a pop event in London – more than any other city.
• 21 per cent specifically said that they would travel internationally to see Taylor Swift within the next two years.
• 12 per cent said that they were planning on travelling outside of their city to watch Taylor Swift in London specifically.

Methodology

This research was commissioned by Visit London and conducted by OnePoll. The study specifically focused on individuals who have attended a music event in the past, encompassing 3,000 respondents from France, Germany, the United States of America (USA) and non-London residents of the United Kingdom (UK). Data collection took place between May 31 and June 7. OnePoll is a Market Research Society (MRS) Company Parter, and European Society for Opinion and Market Research (ESOMAR) Corporate Member.