Fans look for Swift in Toronto – Brandon Sun

TORONTO – American sisters Lina and My Jae weren’t worried about dropping thousands of dollars to see Taylor Swift in Toronto.

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

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

The sisters are among the many fans willing to spend a lot of money in hopes of seeing Swift. The downside of the $152 million in direct expenses that Destination Toronto estimates will come from Swift’s swing through the city.

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

Some fans were even willing to spend money without guaranteed admission to the concert.

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

“Long story short: looking for 1 ticket,” it said.

Salve said she was willing to spend $1,100 to attend the concert, in addition to the approximately $1,000 she had already spent on her trip.

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

If she doesn’t see Swift, she said she would be “very sad.”

“But I’ll make the most of my trip,” she said, noting that she had gone to Toronto Island earlier Thursday and had plans to visit Niagara Falls on Friday before trying to get 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 town.

“I’m talking to someone who has a ticket,” Nguyen said that afternoon, with just over 24 hours to go before the shows were scheduled to open. “We’re meeting tomorrow, and that’s $1,500.”

Her flight cost her another $300, and she crashes with a friend to save money, so if she gets the ticket, she estimates the total cost of her trip to be about $2,000.

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

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

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 15, 2024.