Christopher BarrettTaylor Swift’s eight summer shows at Wembley Stadium (cap. 90,000) will boost the capital’s economy by £300 million, according to Mayor of London office calculations using UKInbound’s Tourism Statistics.
London is to host more dates of Taylor Swift’s record-breaking The Eras Tour than any other city in the world, with nearly 700,000 people attending the Wembley Stadium shows.
The capital will mark Swift’s first performance at the London venue tonight, 21 June, with activity across the city including murals, a special Tube map, a ‘Taylor trail’ and a series of events.
With her eight dates at Wembley Stadium, Swift has equalled a record set by Take That who played the venue for eight dates on their 2011 Progress tour. The show mean she is the biggest-selling female artist to perform at the venue. During the summer, Wembley Stadium is set to host more than 1.2m people across shows by acts including AC/DC, Green Day and Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band.
To mark Swift’s arrival, 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’ by Frank Styles which is compiled digitally from more than 30 separate physical paintings. Below the steps will be the ‘…Ready For It’ mural by MurWalls & HUMOR, which features a portrait with lyrics interwoven across the installation.
Transport for London has reimagined the Tube map in Swift’s honour with a pull-out in today’s Evening Standard. The Tube map sees each train 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.
The Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said the fact Swift has chosen to perform more nights in London than anywhere else in the world is further proof that London is the greatest city in the world to watch live music.
Visit London CEO Laura Citron OBE said, “The tourism impact of the tour is expected to be huge: with flight bookings to London up as much as 34% compared to 2023, and hotel searches four times higher in the week leading up to her second leg in August. Music and entertainment continue to be leading motivators for visitors to London, and thanks to the quality and breadth of music events on offer here, our Visit London poll sees London rank above other international cities as the most popular city to travel to for live music.”
Wembley Park CEO James Saunders said, “We now welcome over 16 million visitors annually, and this summer alone are expecting over four million visitors from the UK and beyond with the arrival of Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour and our packed retail and events programme around the wider estate. London is a global hub for music and I’m incredibly proud that Wembley Park plays a fundamental role in maintaining this enviable reputation.”