Taylor Swift’s Eras tour to generate £300m for London’s economy

The singer-songwriter will perform for three nights at Wembley stadium this weekend before returning to the venue for five nights in August.

The ‘Shake it Off’ singer is performing more times in London than any other city across the world, with nearly 640,000 people expected to attend across the eight dates.

To celebrate the star’s arrival in the capital Transport for London (TfL) has reimagined the Tube map in her honour and a number of special celebrations and events will take place across the city.

The map (Taylor’s version) sees each line named after a different album and drawn in sequin colours to match, with stations named after songs, and gemstones to reflect key locations with links to Taylor that fans can visit.

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Wembley Park is hosting two new public artworks, including a giant mural on the Spanish Steps, which are being temporarily renamed the ‘Swiftie Steps’.

The steps, which connect Wembley Stadium and the OVO Arena Wembley, will feature Auras created by artist Frank Styles which have been compiled digitally from more than 30 separate physical paintings.

Below the steps will be the Ready For It mural painted by MurWalls & HUMOR which features a portrait with lyrics interwoven across the artwork.

A Taylor trail launched on Friday will celebrate places across the capital that are referenced in her music, with venues displaying new vinyl stickers in their windows to welcome Swifties and share other locations of interest.

Notable locations include the West End, Soho, Bond Street, Camden Market, Highgate, Hampstead Heath, Vauxhall, Shoreditch, Hackney, Brixton and Kentish Town.

The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “The Eras Tour has broken records and created huge excitement so I’m delighted that Taylor Swift has chosen to perform more nights in London than anywhere else in the world. 

“Her eight performances will bring nearly 700,000 fans from across the country and beyond to Wembley Stadium, providing a huge boost to our hospitality industry and further proof that London is the greatest city in the world to watch live music.”

The 640,000 fans set to attend the Wembley shows are estimated to spend an average of £471 when they come to the capital, according to a report by the Greater London Authority.

The estimated £300 million total boost to London’s economy was calculated using data from UKInbound’s Tourism Statistics for 2018, which showed that each domestic and international tourist to the UK generated about £396 to the UK economy that year, with the individual spent figure then adjusted to bring it in line with inflation.