Concertgoing is a serious affair, as any fan — and particularly a Taylor Swift fan — will tell you. A previous Lyft analysis found that fully 36% of Lyft-riding Eras concertgoers traveled outside their hometown for the show — more than any other fan base. But the impact of the Eras tour can be measured not only in miles but also in dollars.
After all, when Swifties travel to see Taylor, they don’t just go to the concert. They also stay in hotels, patronize bars, and grab food or other pre-concert needs (like glitter). The Washington Post estimates that, between tickets, travel, outfits, and lodging, the average Swift fan spent $1,300 per show. The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia surmises that the singer may have generated the highest revenues for the city’s hotels since Covid. Indeed, the economic impact was strong enough that Canada’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau, personally tweeted at Taylor requesting a visit.
The Swift Effect
To understand precisely what happens when Taylor comes to town, Lyft conducted a study across the 23 U.S. cities where Swift performed in 2023 and 2024. The main finding: When a city hosted an Eras concert, the number of total Lyft rides went up an average of 8.2%. (This analysis controls for seasonality and variation in rides across weekdays.)
This effect was particularly pronounced in New Orleans, which saw a 31% jump in rides on the weekend that Swift performed. Nashville saw a 24% bump (not too surprising, given Swift’s roots in the city). A Swift Effect of 8.2% may not seem like a huge increase compared with, say, the Super Bowl (which generated a 32% increase in rides in Las Vegas last year). Still, almost half of all Swift-hosting cities saw a jump of at least 10%, and 75% of them experienced a more than 5% increase.
Unsurprisingly, stadiums (77% increase) and entertainment venues (34% increase) where Swift performed saw the biggest bump in ride activity. But hotel drop-offs also increased by 32%, restaurants by 10%, airports by 9%, and mass transit and nightlife by 6%. Meanwhile, destinations that traveling Swifties were less likely to visit — such as home addresses, offices, and healthcare destinations — saw almost no increase in rides.
According to Lyft data, Cincinnati saw the greatest increase in hotel stays for the Eras tour (63%), which may help explain why a room at Days Inn & Suites shot up from about $72 to $1,024 per night in that window, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer. In Santa Clara (57% increase), occupancy rates ranged from 98% to 100%.
As for restaurants, Newark received the biggest increase (33%), followed by Nashville (30%).
And if you doubt it’s Swift leading the rideshare surge in these towns, just take a closer look at where folks are going to when the artist’s playing in her hometown: restaurants that Swift once frequented in Nashville, like the Pancake Pantry, and places where she played, like Tootsies Orchid Lounge. Indeed, in calculating the Swift Effect for restaurants in Nashville, one locale stands out above all others: The Bluebird Cafe — where the singer first performed at just 14 years of age — saw a 355% increase in rides when Taylor was in town.
