The Summer Olympics take place in Paris this year, and nearly 2 million visitors are expected to descend on the French capital for the event — but another invasion is taking place due to Taylor Swift.
Bloomberg reports Taylor’s four Eras Tour concerts outside Paris May 9 through May 12 are drawing five times as many Americans to France as the Summer Games. That’s according to Embark Beyond, a New York luxury travel company. Jack Ezon, Embark co-founder, tells Bloomberg, “I never would have anticipated it … she’s even overshadowing the Olympics.”
Ezon says his company has put together more than 200 trips to Paris for those attending the concerts; a third of them are mother-daughter duos who are also scheduling shopping sprees. Clients are staying in luxury hotels, says Ezon, and 20% of them are booking longer European visits following the concerts, with some traveling to London or the south of France.
Meanwhile, Bloomberg reports that there’s a lower-than-expected demand for the Olympic Games, with some vacation rentals cutting prices and hotel prices falling 30%.
As for why so many Americans are traveling to Europe to see Taylor, blame the laws in Europe that limit how much you can resell concert tickets for. Because the tickets aren’t as outrageously expensive as they are in the U.S., it can sometimes to be cheaper to travel overseas to see certain concerts.
Bloomberg estimated that Taylor’s concerts contributed $4.3 billion to the U.S. gross domestic product last year.
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