Filipino Swifties secured the most number of Taylor Swift concert package purchases from Klook during the general ticket sale. Here’s how this will impact businesses, both locally and in Singapore.

Taylor Swift announced that she will be holding the “Eras Tour” in Southeast Asia, with Singapore being the only stop. And with over 268 million followers on Instagram alone, including a fraction of them being Asians, millions of Taylor Swift fans—known as “Swifties”—in Asia knew how securing tickets to Swift’s concerts will be a difficult process. 

Prior to the ticket selling, a registration process was held on Ticketmaster Singapore to see the demand for the said three-hour concert, where Swift performs the best hits out of her discography. Eight million fans registered on the first day alone—showing how much Southeast Asian fans were ready for it.

And by the end of the registration period, there were more than 22 million fans who expressed interest in buying tickets. 

Given the high demand, Swift added three more shows to the Singaporean leg of her concert—thus making the official schedule March 2 to 4 and 7 to 9, 2024 at the Singapore National Stadium. With the venue’s capacity of around 330,000 lucky fans across all six days, more fans would then be able to go to her concert.

In this case study, we look into why this singer has amassed such a large following and why her concert is a big deal, for both fans and businesses everywhere.

How Taylor Swift’s Ticket Selling Works

Before the sale, it was announced that only a fraction of the 22 million registered fans will receive access codes for the general sale on Ticketmaster SG. Those who don’t will be waitlisted and will only be given a chance to purchase any remaining tickets.

Thankfully, Swifties have the option to either be a part of the United Overseas Bank (UOB) cardholders’ presale and reserved sale or through the Klook app, which doesn’t require access codes. 

Given that the UOB card is not available in the Philippines, Filipino fans who were waitlisted relied heavily on Klook packages. After the ticket selling finished, numbers have shown that the Philippines had the most number of fans who bought the most Taylor Swift concert tickets on the app. 

Ticket Selling via the Klook App

Given the high demand, where only 330,000 out of 22 million fans will succeed, many fans called the ticket-selling “The Great War,” in reference to Swift’s song in her “Midnights” album.

General selling took place on July 7, 2023, at 12 noon sharp—both in Singapore and in the Philippines. On the dot, fans queued up on the app for a chance to get any of their available bundles—two tickets and an overnight stay in a 4-star or 5-star hotel. The prices ranged from SGD 542 (around PHP 22,297) for 4-Star Hotels to SGD 4,977 (around PHP 204,753) for 5-Star Hotels. It sold out quickly within two hours. 

Asian Swifties showed high interest in those bundles—with the Philippines having the most number of customers, who queued up and secured tickets. Next to the Philippines were countries like Singapore, Indonesia, China, and Malaysia. 

“We expected immense demand but safe to say, that was an understatement with more than 600,000 fans from across the region eagerly waiting in line and willing to spend more than SG$1,700 [almost PHP 70,000] on our Klook Experience Packages,” said Sarah Wan, Klook’s General Manager in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore.

“We are thankful for the patience and support from Swifties around the region, and we can’t wait to help them discover and enjoy the most unforgettable experiences when they visit Singapore in March 2024,” she added. 

Taylor Swift’s High Demand in the Philippines 

The Philippines has many Swift fans. In fact, Quezon City landed in the top 13 cities in the world that streamed “Midnights” during its release date. What’s more, Taylor Swift is also a popular topic in the local trending list on Twitter. 

Swift has been in the Philippines for her Speak Now Tour (2011) and Red Tour (2014) and given that it has been a long time since then, fans anticipate being able to see her again during her “Eras Tour.” This is why an attempt to be recognized by the 33-year-old singer, #WeWantErasTourPhilippines trended several times online.

This came with a series of mall events that were flocked by fans to listen to her music and watch performances from various artists, including drag queen Taylor Sheesh who imitates her concert performances. 

Despite best efforts and successful fan events, Swift didn’t announce a concert in the Philippines where many fans hope to see her perform in the Philippine Arena, given that while the venue has a seating capacity of 55,000, the dimensions of Swift’s stage won’t fit into it.

How This Can Impact Singapore’s Tourism

The Eras Tour in Singapore is co-presented by Marina Bay Sands, UOB, Klook, and the Singapore Tourism Board in an attempt to boost their tourism as they know that tourists will flock in to see Swift. More so, the country also has a concert venue that meets the concert’s requirements.

With a lot of tourists expected to arrive, businesses in the country will thrive, including hotels, restaurants, local attractions, and transport services—as well as several airlines. In fact, airfares for the concert dates going to and from Singapore have already increased given its high demand. 

Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour is expected to be included among the highest-grossing concert tours of all time. It was estimated that she earns more than $13 million for each show, provided the average number of 54,000 attendees per night. And according to Pollstar, the entire tour might gross around $1.3 billion (around PHP 71 billion), excluding international dates.

With that, the concert can be described to be beneficial not only to Swift but to the respective economies of every place she hosts her concerts—in this case, Singapore.