SINGAPORE – When Singapore was announced as the only South-east Asian stop for American singer Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour, Malaysian fan Hilmi Hamid immediately planned a holiday here to catch her performance.

Having spent almost RM10,000 (S$2,900) for his flights, accommodation, and three concert tickets, the 24-year-old Web-based developer said it was worth it as he had been a fan since 2016.

Mr Hilmi, who will be attending three concert dates, said: “I’ve never been to Singapore, but anything to see Taylor Swift.”

He is one of many fans from the region flying in just to see her.

Swift, 33, will be performing for six nights at the National Stadium from March 2 to 4 and 7 to 9, 2024.

About 300,000 fans are expected to attend and tickets for the shows, which cost between $88 and $1,228, sold out over two days.

On July 6, Singapore-based Filipino engineer Jonathan Castro, 51, queued at Singapore Post’s Woodlands Civic Centre branch for more than 18 hours to buy tickets for his daughters, spending almost $1,000 on four tickets. 

His daughters, aged 20 and 22, who live in the Philippines, will be visiting Singapore for a week.

Hotels, airlines and local travel operators said they anticipate a travel boom in March 2024, thanks to Swift. 

Hotel operator Accor, which operates over 30 hotels in Singapore, said there has been a spike in demand for hotel bookings, because of her concerts.

It added: “We are seeing an upsurge in demand over concert dates at a much higher rate than we would normally see for this period, eight months in advance. Some of our hotels are already fully booked.” 

Ms Cinn Tan, chief commercial and marketing officer of Pan Pacific Hotels Group, said Parkroyal Collection Pickering has seen a 200 per cent increase in bookings for March 2 to 9, 2024, as compared with the week before tickets were released.

She said most of these bookings came from Australia, Indonesia, Taiwan and Korea.

She added that Parkroyal on Beach Road also experienced a 20 per cent increase in bookings for the same dates.

Digital travel platform Agoda said there were 160 times more searches than usual for accommodations in Singapore, with the spike in bookings driven by regional neighbours, led by the Philippines.

Mr Nuno Guerreiro, regional director for South Asia, Oceania and Chains at Booking.com, said there has been 10 times more searches on its website for bookings during the period of Swift’s concert dates in 2024 compared with searches for the same period in 2023.

He added: “It is clear there’s a definite segment of travellers strategically planning their trips to Singapore, specifically around these concert dates.”

Similarly, Expedia Brands travel expert and Asia public relations director Lavinia Rajaram said the firm’s data revealed that hotel searches grew four times on July 7, when Swift’s concert tickets were released, compared with the average daily searches before her concert announcement on June 21.

Inbound flight searches to Singapore during March 2 to 9, 2024, also increased by 3½ times on the same date, as compared with the period before her concert announcement, she added.

Based on airline booking websites, airfares into Singapore from Manila and Jakarta were about 50 per cent to 130 per cent more expensive during the period of Swift’s shows, in contrast to similar flights a month earlier.

A one-way ticket on Jetstar Asia from Jakarta to Singapore in early March 2024 costs 2.2 million rupiah (S$193), but a similar ticket booked for a month earlier only costs 829,000 rupiah.

A Singapore Airlines (SIA) flight from Manila to Singapore from Feb 29 to March 8 costs US$295 (S$390) on average, more than double the price of a similar ticket booked for a month earlier.

Airlines said they were seeing strong demand from fans attending Swift’s concerts here and encouraged customers to book flights early.

Jetstar Asia said there has been a 20 per cent increase in demand on routes such as Manila, Jakarta and Bangkok to and from Singapore during this period due to Swift’s concerts here.

Traveloka president Caesar Indra said the Indonesia-based travel platform has seen a sixfold increase in flight bookings during the period when Swift performs, with demand coming mainly from Indonesia, Vietnam and China.

Mr Henry Jones, marketing director of FCM Travel Asia, said: “With over a million fans queuing for her tickets in Asia, including myself, it is no surprise airfares have increased as most of them monitor flight tickets as well as hotels.”

He added that the Covid-19 pandemic contributed to the surge in demand for flight tickets, as live entertainment was not allowed to take place then. 

On whether they will be adding flights to Singapore in March, SIA and Scoot said they will monitor demand and adjust their capacity accordingly.

Economist Song Seng Wun estimates each foreign concertgoer will spend $300 to $500 daily here.

Maybank economist Chua Hak Bin said: “Being a concert hub will draw the higher-value end of the tourism spectrum – the more affluent, big spenders and high rollers.”

Associate Professor Walter Theseira from the Singapore University of Social Sciences said that the most important effects of Swift’s concerts were encouraging investment into Singapore’s events venue industry and building Singapore’s reputation as a regional events hub.

He added: “The effect of any one event, whether it’s Taylor Swift or Coldplay, is minimal.

“But the effect of being an events hub with a sustained string of high-quality events could be substantial.”

Indonesian fan Vanessa Wong, 24, plans to take a week-long holiday in Singapore to see Swift.

Ms Wong, who works in e-commerce operations, said she had spent more than $1,500 for her concert tickets, flights, and accommodation.

She added: “Whatever the cost, I’m okay to spend it to see Taylor Swift.”