KUALA LUMPUR – Singapore’s subsidy of Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour concerts in the city-state next month are in the form of a grant, the republic’s Tourism Board and Culture, Community and Youth Ministry said.
The move was made as the concerts are expected to “generate significant benefits for the economy here,” The Straits Times reported the two authorities saying.
In a statement to the paper, they said more than 300,000 tickets have been sold for the performances to be held for six nights, and will be drawing a large number of fans from other countries.
The Tourism Board and Culture Ministry also said Singapore “has much to offer” in terms of hosting global large-scale events due to its location, infrastructure, safety efficiency and diverse cultural offerings.
The authorities were responding to news reports of Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin’s explanation of why Swift would not be performing in the kingdom.
He said this was because Singapore had subsidised millions of dollars for Swift’s concerts while ensuring that her performances were exclusive to the city-state, and not anywhere else in Southeast Asia.
Swift is to perform on March 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, and 9 in Singapore.
The Love Story singer had developed a reputation for driving economic spillovers from her concerts with a phenomenon known as “Swiftonomics”, which is estimated to have generated US$8.5 billion (some RM40.63 billion) for the United States economy in the third quarter of last year, according to Bloomberg Economics.
Malaysia’s Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil was today asked if Putrajaya will emulate Singapore, to which he said the government does not allocate any funds to concert organisers to obtain exclusive rights to performances here.
However, Fahmi said the Tourism, Arts, and Culture Ministry could propose to implement this, subject to the cabinet’s discussion and approval. – February 20, 2024