Eva Rinaldi, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
No – that is not a joke. It seems that Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour is likely to boost the British economy by an astonishing £1 billion, with London alone getting an uplift of £300 million. Liberal Democrats have called for her to receive the highest accolade granted by the City of London.
Barclays Bank has done its sums, and reckons that
Adding up the total spending for Brits on the UK leg alone – that’s 1.2 million tickets over 15 nights and four stadiums at capacity, with merchandise, outfits, food, accommodation, travel and more – the Eras Tour is expected to bring in almost £1 billion (£997m) to the UK’s experience economy.
The impact is being felt right across the country, but in particular in Liverpool, Edinburgh, Cardiff and London, where the 15 concerts were staged.
On top of that she has made huge donations charities, including food banks in every city where she toured in the UK.
Sarah Olney, our Treasury spokesperson, says:
We were enchanted to welcome Taylor Swift and the Eras Tour to the UK. Her decorated 18 year career has been one of endless philanthropy and using her platform to bring reforms to the music industry, all while releasing chart topping hits and breaking record after record.
But Taylor Swift is now on track to achieve her most impressive feat yet; patching part of the blank space the Conservative government left in the British economy after years of neglect.
The Eras Tour has provided hours of joy to the thousands of fans attending the shows, but the real legacy of Taylor Swift’s tour will be the lifeline it provides to our economy, so it is only right that she be recognised with London’s highest honour.
And this story has made the front page headlines in the media: