Fans rally for Swift in Toronto

TORONTO — American sisters Lina and My Jae weren’t worried about the thousands of dollars they dropped to see Taylor Swift in Toronto.

“You know what, money comes back, but the Taylor Swift Eras Tour doesn’t,” My Jae said as she showed off her hand-dazzled bodysuit and tinsel-trimmed sweater before Thursday’s show.

The Upstate New York duo spent about $3,000 apiece, from their $1,800 floor tickets to the $350 bodysuit Lina Jae bought and the $55 admission fee to Taylgate, the unofficial Swift party next to the concert.

The sisters are among the many fans willing to spend big in hopes of seeing Swift, off the back of the $152 million in direct spending that Destination Toronto has estimated will result from Swift’s swing through the city.

“Memories will be made and they will be worth it,” said Lina Jae.

Some fans were even willing to pay without guaranteed access to the concert.

Hours before Swift was set to take the stage in Toronto, German tourist Jasmin Salve walked around the grounds with a cardboard sign explaining her situation.

“Long story short: Looking for 1 ticket,” it read.

Salve said she was willing to spend $1,100 to get to the concert, on top of the roughly $1,000 she had already spent on her trip.

“The flight was very cheap,” she said outside the Rogers Centre. “It was 500 euros. And for the hotel, another 200.”

If she doesn’t get to see Swift, she said she’ll be “very sad.”

“But I want to make the most of my trip,” she said, noting that she went to Toronto Island earlier Thursday and planned to hit Niagara Falls on Friday before trying to buy tickets again on Saturday.

22-year-old Tien Nguyen was in a similar boat on Wednesday. She decided to make the trip from Winnipeg to Toronto as soon as she heard Swift was stopping in the city.

“I’m in talks with someone on the ticket,” Nguyen said that afternoon, with just over 24 hours left before the performances were set to start. “We’ll meet tomorrow and it’s $1,500.”

Her flight cost her another $300, and she’s breaking up with a friend to save money, so if she snags the ticket, she estimates the total cost of her trip to be around $2,000.

Destination Toronto, a tourism organization, said the $152 million in direct spending it projected does not include concert tickets or airfare because that money does not stay in the local economy.

CEO Andrew Weir said the organization expects spending to grow to an economic impact of $282 million as money continues to circulate.

This report from The Canadian Press was first published on November 15, 2024.

Nicole Thompson, The Canadian Press