The Taylor Swift takeover of South Florida is over, and she left a massive impression on her fans and on local businesses.
In fact, even casual observers were wowed by the Eras Tour concerts.
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I’m a case in point. I can’t name more than a handful of Swift’s songs, but at Sunday night’s show, I was swept up in the spectacle of joy and positive energy.
Today, our airports looked like the merchandise line at the concert as thousands of Swifties returned home. We watched fans from Pennsylvania trading bracelets with fans from San Diego.
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“It was everything we were expecting and more, just amazing,” said Stella Kato, standing with her friend, Amelia Rowe, each wearing Taylor Swift concert shirts.
Was it worth flying here from California?
“A hundred percent, always,” Amelia said.
To borrow a line from Swift’s song, “Florida”, economic impact is one hell of a drug to businesses in South Florida.
“There’s definitely a thing called the Taylor Swift effect, it’s real,” said Rolando Aedo, the COO of the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau. “She has not been in other places for three nights so the fact that we had the triple play, all three nights culminating on that Sunday, has amplified the economic impact.”
They are still tabulating the numbers, but the GMCVB is expecting more than a 10% increase in hotel occupancy and a rise in hotel rates, directly attributable to Swift’s fans, not to mention the impact of everything else that tourists buy.
“We came from St. Louis, Missouri,” said Amanda Schwab, adding that the trip was “definitely worth it.”
How much did she and her friend spend?
“Between our hotel, drinks, driving around, food, then we went to the mall, probably at least $2,500,” she said.
“We probably spent somewhere along the lines of $3,000,” said Aila Kato, who brought his daughter and her friend from San Diego. “You got 61,000 people at the concert last night, so what percent came from out of town, what percent spent way more than we did?”
