When I used to live in Stratford, nothing gave me greater joy than going to a concert at the London Stadium, staying until the very last note of the encore, then smugly walking home and being in my own bed within about 20 minutes. I’ve dithered over whether to attend shows at Wembley and just pray my favourite act doesn’t choose Shepherd’s Bush to play at. But it seems (not for the first time) I’m not in vogue, because tour tourism is the hottest travel trend around.
The boom (which sees fans travel far and wide to see gigs) has, of course, notably been driven by Taylor Swift and her monster Eras Tour, and while it’s garnered most of the conversation, it was teed up by Beyonce’s similarly huge and culture-defining Renaissance tour. Really, of course, it’s also been driven by the huge demand and prices of tickets — fans have realised that if they can’t get a ticket, or can’t afford a ticket, it can often be easier and more affordable to travel to see their favourite artist. And yes, that includes the cost of travel and a hotel room. A new study by JeffBet found Wembley is now your cheapest opportunity to see Swift’s tour, with the average resale price being £564, while the cheapest ticket for her remaining 21 US shows costing on average £1,807. To be fair, even I (very) happily left my house and ventured to Liverpool earlier this year to see Swift.
40% saying they would travel for a concert as an excuse to see a new place
It’s a trend travel experts Expedia have been tracking for a while. In a survey 70% of people said they were more likely to travel to a concert outside of their own town, with 40% saying they would travel for a concert as an excuse to see a new place — 30% said they’d travel because tickets were cheaper elsewhere. And while you think popping on a UK weekend break to see your favourite artist is one thing, Expedia actually found some of the top tour tourism destinations were Kuala Lumpur, Edmonton in Canada and Mexico City. When it comes to being closer to home, for Europe Birmingham, Antwerp and Warsaw were up there — and hotel stays in those cities cost on average less than £120 per night.
“With the wild demand for concert tickets, fans are making savvy financial choices by choosing shows that are off the beaten path for concerts,” says Melanie Fish, chief trend tracker for Expedia Brands. On average, Expedia found fans would pay up to £405 to see their favourite artist live.
Of course, travelling for a specific gig isn’t without risk — we’ll all know people who’ve travelled for concerts that were unexpectedly cancelled at the last minute. Thousands of fans were recently disappointed after Swift understandably cancelled her Vienna show after a terrorist plot was foiled.
It’s not only Taylor and Beyonce though who fans are trekking for – Expedia found Justin Timberlake, Olivia Rodrigo, Usher and Pink were in the top five artists driving tour tourism this summer as well as Swift.
“We expect gig-getaways to boom further.”
But with everyone cottoning onto the benefits of tour tourism, will the advantages fade? Expedia found that for every city on her European tour, the first date in each city is the one with the highest travel searches, so a top tip could be to look for “quieter” dates — especially opt if you can for midweek dates rather than weekends to lower costs. Expedia also suggested “commuting” to the concert, so for instance when Swift played in Liverpool, hotels in Manchester (just 40 minutes away by train) were considerably cheaper.
“In 2024 we expect gig-getaways to boom further,” said Liseli Sitali, Director of Music Partnerships at Expedia Group. “Music lovers will be travelling farther, turning their gig night into a long weekend, and be on the lookout for affordable alternative destinations to go and watch live music.”
Rhiannon Evans is the interim content director at PS UK. Rhiannon has been a journalist for 17 years, starting at local newspapers before moving to work for Heat magazine and Grazia. As a senior editor at Grazia, she helped launch parenting brand The Juggle, worked across brand partnerships, and launched the “Grazia Life Advice” podcast. An NCE-qualified journalist (yes, with a 120-words-per-minute shorthand), she has written for The Guardian, Vice and Refinery29.
