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As Taylor Swift prepares for her two-week long stay at Scotiabank Arena for the ‘Era’s Tour,’ the city of Toronto is anticipating a significant impact on our overall economy.
Taylor Swift will be performing in Toronto starting tonight in six sold-out shows and is expected to bring an approximate $282 million in ‘economic impact’ for the city of Toronto according to a report released on Oct. 15 by tourism and travel website Destination Toronto.
One of the contributors to this boost will be the ‘Taylor Swift Way’ street signs released by the City of Toronto last week. Once the concerts are over, the 22 signs (donated by Rogers) will be auctioned off by Daily Bread Food Bank. So far, the lowest bid is starting at $1,313 according to their auction page.
“As we auction them off, for every dollar somebody spends to purchase one of the signs, Rogers is gonna match that up to $113,000, per her [Taylor Swift] favourite number 13,” said Daily Bread Food Bank CEO, Neil Hetherington in a Zoom interview.
The signs are projected to raise a significant amount of money for the charity, which Hetherington says will in turn impact the Daily Bread Bank’s ability to serve Torontonians.
“It’s almost a one for one ratio of every dollar donated to daily bread is one meal somewhere in the city. So there’s a quarter million meals that we could have just from selling a piece of memorabilia,” said Hetherington.
In addition to charitable initiatives, Swift’s stay is projected to make a significant impact on the hospitality industry in Toronto including both restaurants and hotels.
The Union Local 75, released a statement this morning that they will be holding a rally in front of the Fairmount Hotel today to advocate for salary increases in response to the high hotel prices for Swift’s fans.
“We will undoubtedly see a significant boost in sales and overall revenue during Taylor Swift’s two-week run,” said Abby Barrett, a Lead Host at Hotel X’s Valerie and Roses Social in an email response to OTR. “Many of the ‘Swifties’ will be dining or drinking somewhere before the concert, and sometimes even post-concert.”
Barrett adds that hotel rooms within Hotel X are currently at full capacity as fans, including international tourists, prepare to pack Toronto’s venues.
“I expect to see various Canadian and American fans around our venues in the next couple of weeks,” said Barrett.
For one Taylor Swift ticket-buyer, this time around will be the ‘cheapest’ set of tickets that the loyal fan has purchased so far, after attending not one, but two ‘Era’s Tour’ concerts internationally.
“The Toronto $200 tickets will be the cheapest I’ve gotten for the Era’s Tour [concerts], and all things considered, I feel [it’s] relatively fair,” said Ben Van Dine, a fourth-year Creative Industries student at Toronto Metropolitan University.
“I’m super close to Downtown so [this] will be the quickest commute I’ve ever had to the Era’s Tour,” said Van Dine.
Reporter, On The Record, fall 2024.
