Coldplay, then Taylor Swift: Concert economics are driving a tourism boom in Singapore

Coldplay, Ed Sheeran, and now Taylor Swift. Singapore is eyeing concert economics as its new growth driver, which is set to add hundreds of millions of dollars in tourism receipts.

"The Lion City has traditionally been more a magnet for business travel, but these large-scale global music events are a boon for Singapore's travel-related services that can add up to 10% of its GDP," HSBC's ASEAN economist Yun Liu wrote in a recent note.

In January, British band Coldplay performed six shows at Singapore's National Stadium. Fans bought 200,000 tickets as the shows sold out within hours, breaking the city-state's record for the most tickets sold by an artist in a single day. Singapore was Asia's main stop for Coldplay's Music of the Spheres World Tour — boosting the country's tourism industry.

Asia-Pacific travel platform Agoda recorded a "massive surge" in search traffic for accommodations in Singapore spanning Coldplay's concert dates. The company said interest for those dates was 8.7 times higher after the band began ticket sales in June. Agoda said the increase was driven largely by neighboring countries Malaysia and Indonesia.

And starting this weekend, Singapore will host American popstar Taylor Swift, whose Eras Tour in the U.S. last year was estimated to generate around $4.6 billion in consumer spending.

"Taylor Swift is also widely expected to generate a sizable economic boost, given her past record," Liu added. 

Shortly after the singer announced her concert dates in the city-state, Singapore hotel bookings for March 2024 surged 10%, data from hotel analytics company Smith Travel Research showed. Swift is scheduled to perform six shows in early March and the month is on track to hit the highest occupancy levels out of the