SEATTLE — The countdown is officially on!
T-Minus four days until pop superstar, Taylor Swift makes her ‘The Eras Tour’ debut here in Seattle. By some estimates, T-Swift could boost the economy by billions of dollars. But at the local level, what does that mean for a city like Seattle?
Well, according to the Senior Vice President of Visit Seattle, Michael Woody, “We are well on our way to [economic] recovery. We still have a way to go to get back to pre-pandemic numbers even with all the great things we’ve seen happening we’re on our path but we’re not quite there yet and things like that are really going to help us.”
A week after hosting MLB All-Star Week for the first time in over two decades in Seattle, experts estimated approximately $50 million dollars in revenue. While the dollar amount for how much Taylor Swift could generate for the local economy hasn’t been vocalized, other cities Swift has stopped at during her tour have revealed how her tour has helped their local economies.
Last week the Federal Reserve of Philadelphia published in their economic report, “...despite the slowing recovery in tourism in the region overall, one contact highlighted that May was the strongest month for hotel revenue in Philadelphia since the onset of the pandemic, in large part due to an influx of guests for the Taylor Swift concerts in the city.”
With hotels already booked out well in advance for this weekend, for tourists and T-Swift fans alike, the weekend will be full of crowds. But the chaos should allow for more city-wide revenue. Woody adds, “We have all of this opportunity to help lift the programs and services that are provided to the residents here as a result of this driving tourism economy.”