UK Hospitality: Swift concerts have been different
Kate Nicolls from UK Hospitality says Taylor Swift concerts have been “significantly different” and predicts that half a billion pounds in expected sales will be exceeded. Report by Ajagbef. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
Transcript
00:00Well, it has been significantly different. We estimated before she started that the nine
00:04days of concerts would generate half a billion pounds of extra sales. That's going to be
00:08exceeded. And that's partly because she opens the doors to concerts early. She gets people
00:14and fans in early, fan meets, friendship bracelets, all the activities that go alongside a concert.
00:20It becomes more than just two to three hours of concert. It's a whole event in itself.
00:26You've also got families that are coming, multi-generational audiences who therefore
00:31come early, book in advance, eat and drink out alongside the concert, and that's good
00:36for hospitality. Well, what you're seeing is people travelling from a long way away
00:39across the UK to come to these events, and they have become must-attend events, but also
00:44travelling across the continent and from further abroad to be able to get to see Taylor Swift
00:49in places like Wembley or across the UK. And unlike a football match or some other concerts,
00:55they tend to be 90 minutes, two hours. This is a six-hour event over the course of a whole
01:01evening, so people do come early, they stay and eat, they eat as a family, and that tends
01:06to mean that people are pre-booking.