- By Frances Mao
- in Singapore
8 hours ago
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Swifties from all over the region are flying in for the Singapore leg of the Eras tour
In the glittering Asian city-state of Singapore, the sequins have been removed, limousines have been polished and hotel pillows have been padded.
The city is hosting Taylor Swift's Eras tour this week, an honor that comes at a price.
It was originally reported that the price tag for the six shows, which were set to take place exclusively in the Southeast Asian country, was up to 24 million Singapore dollars (14 million pounds; 18 million US dollars).
Culture Minister Edwin Tong has since told CNA in Singapore that the number is “nowhere near that high” – although he still refused to give an exact figure. However, the broadcaster suggested it might have been as low as S$2 million for all six.
However, the fact that any money was being spent at all only came to light after an outburst from the Thai prime minister, who accused Singapore of paying concert promoters $2 million to $3 million a night.
This sparked criticism across the region. In the Philippines, a lawmaker criticized the move, saying “this is not what good neighbors do” – and called for a formal protest against the grant.
But while governments are in the red, it is literally the fans who are paying the price.
Swift can be heard everywhere in Southeast Asia, where around 700 million people live – from alleys in Ho Chi Minh City to taxis in Bangkok.
So it was a gut punch for many when they learned that all six shows would be taking place in the region's most expensive city.
Singapore's currency – one of the strongest in Asia – has long deterred visitors. But for the chance to see their idol, many of her fans are willing to grin and bear it.
Look what you forced me to do
Throughout the week, scores of fans landed at Changi Airport in Singapore, many from China and its territories.
Swift doesn't play in China, so Singapore is the next best thing for many.
A woman who flew in from Shenzhen told the BBC that she and her friend spent S$1,200 each on tickets alone. After hotel prices skyrocketed across the city, they decided to camp at a friend's house.
Image source: Getty Images
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Taylor Swift in Sao Paulo
In the luxury segment, the city's landmark hotel Marina Bay Sands sold out its S$50,000 Swift packages, which included four VIP tickets and a three-night stay in a suite.
Then there's 22-year-old Allen Dungca in the Philippines, who scraped together his salary to bring him and his mother to Singapore.
This Thursday they take a four-hour bus ride to Manila, stay in a motel at the airport and catch their morning flight the next day.
The enterprising student had already secured the travel package in July. After weeks of desperate searching, he finally found the tickets again on a resale evening.
“I’m very lucky,” he says of the S$400 cost for seats in the nosebleed section. “The seller was friendly and not a scalper.”
Resales now number in the thousands. And he almost fell for a scammer, a shady character named Pat Steve, who was later exposed online.
He estimates the whole venture costs him S$2,000 – the monthly income of an upper-middle-class family in the Philippines, a country where a fifth of the population lives below the poverty line.
“At the moment I am a student with a part-time job and can afford my wants and needs. But it's sad that other Swifties don't have the means or budget to watch them abroad, and I know most Filipino Swifties love them so much.”
The Philippines arguably has the most ardent Swift fan base – Spotify data showed that Quezon City in Manila played the singer's most streams last year.
The pop star has toured the Philippines before – but the Singapore cash bag undoubtedly sweetened the deal, analysts say.
Clean, modern Singapore has long been considered a location for major events in the region. It has the infrastructure, transport connections and a well-earning population, mostly living abroad.
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Swift-style water and light shows in the bay are among the city's Swiftie attractions this week
In a region that has experienced political chaos, it is also considered reliably stable. A decade ago, Swift canceled her shows in Thailand because of the military coup and resulting protests.
But while it is common for governments around the world to provide subsidies and tax breaks to stage events, the reported spending goes beyond anything else publicly known in Singapore.
Samer Hajjar, a marketing lecturer at the National University of Singapore, says it is “above average” even for the city-state.
And the fans are pretty blunt. “It’s kind of greedy,” Mr Dunga says. “But it’s smart … because their economic response will go far beyond that.”
Show me the money
In Australia, the tour's leg before Singapore, officials suggested the tour had led to an “increase” in consumer spending of A$145 million. Over seven nights in Sydney and Melbourne, more than 570,000 tickets were sold, almost twice as many as the six shows in Singapore.
But not all the money counts, economists say.
More than 90% of the trade fair visitors probably came from the region, estimates Dr. Brendan Rynne, chief economist at KPMG, so their dollars would be “just a transfer from one category of spending (or savings) to another.”
However, Australia did not use public money to allow Swift to play in the country, state government officials confirmed to the BBC. Japan, the only other Asian stop on the tour, was also not included.
Singapore has stated that Swift's tour will bring certain economic benefits to the country.
But how high the net profit will be is unclear. The BBC contacted the Singapore Tourism Authority, but they refused to disclose foreign visitor estimates or other models.
A local bank, Maybank, has suggested that consumer spending could exceed S$350 million – but this is based on the very optimistic forecast that 70% of participants will come from out of town.
Even at the Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix in 2022, only 49% of spectators came from overseas, with a record 300,000 spectators.
Image source: Getty Images
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The Singapore F1 Grand Prix attracts thousands of foreign visitors every year
When pressed for the figures, Maybank economist Erica Tay was unable to provide specifics, saying the 70% rate was based on Singapore's “potential catchment area” and that the bank was not interested in estimating net profit.
“Six concerts may not significantly boost a country's economic growth, but the strategic value of Taylor Swift's endorsement of Singapore as a tourism destination outweighs this one-time boost,” she said.
But economics professor Julien Cayla of Nanyang Technological University in Singapore points out that public spending should be closely scrutinized – especially if it is only disclosed to citizens by another country's government.
And in a country where social benefits are relatively limited, this could be seen as excessive spending.
“To justify expenses [reportedly] 24 million Singapore dollars for something that at first glance might not seem so crucial to the country's economic health compared to spending on people and public services… there is tension there,” said Prof Cayla.
Still, he and others say governments have a mandate to throw money around when planning tourism, and Singapore is no exception.
“They don’t necessarily like to advertise it. But as soon as the government sees something that fits into a long-term strategy, it will use government money to support it,” he says.
In a sense, Singapore has just adopted Swift, just as it is currently attracting large multinationals.
“The difference is that Taylor Swift as a company is a very emotional company,” he said.
“It’s about the emotions of 10- to 18-year-olds who are very sad not to see the concert in Bangkok or Jakarta.”
And in the words of the singer herself, that caused a lot of bad blood.