This text is taken from Courrier de l’ économique. To subscribe, click here.
And then, did Taylor Swift boost the Ontario economy during her visit to the Queen City, where she gave six concerts in November?
“It is tempting to believe that a celebrity tour alone could improve the economic performance of a province,” underlines economist Maria Solovieva, who provides some nuance in a TD Bank report on the subject.
According to the data studied, spending by bank members in the leisure sector — which includes restaurants, bars and concerts — grew twice as fast in Ontario as in the rest of Canada. In November, they were up 15% year-on-year in the neighboring province, compared to 7.2% elsewhere in the country.
However, when we look at other types of spending by TD customers in Ontario, their growth was lower (2.2%) than the average for other provinces (3.3%). “As spectacular as it is, theEras Tour channeled spending into a single spending category rather than the entire economy,” observes Mme Solovieva.
Be careful with this data, warns the economist, because “they only take into account the expenditures of Canadian residents and do not take into account the total revenues of merchants in Ontario.” Given the enthusiasm that Taylor Swift's concerts have generated among foreign visitors, particularly from the United States, data on retail sales from Statistics Canada — which will be published in January — will provide a more complete picture.
Even before the superstar's appearance, the tourism organization Destination Toronto estimated that his concerts could generate nearly $280 million in economic activity, including approximately $150 million in direct spending.
Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow herself showed her enthusiasm, predicting “extremely positive and significant impacts” on the local economy. But we will have to wait a little longer before we can fully measure these impacts.
This text is taken from Courrier de l’ économique.
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