Analysis by Jesper Palmqvist, Senior Director – Asia Pacific
There is plenty of time remaining in 2023, but Singapore’s hotel bookings are already increasing rapidly for 2024 with the market set to host several major events early in the year. Utilizing Forward STAR data, we took a quick look at the specific impact for Singapore’s hotels from Taylor Swift’s “The Eras Tour”, Coldplay and the global Rotary Convention.
Taylor Swift “The Eras Tour” is in the lead
Taylor Swift shows are set to take place on 2-4 and 7-9 March 2024 at Singapore National Stadium. As of 17 July 2023, the star performer’s tour dates had already added 10% to March 2024 occupancy on the books. Singapore’s level of 26% is notably high for the market for a period that is still seven months out.
The key to why events like Coldplay and Taylor Swift drive tourism and hotel demand is the multi-night component in combination with global popularity. Instead of visiting many countries for one or two nights, these big artists go to fewer hubs (ex. Tokyo, Singapore and Australia) and play more nights, resulting in more fan travel.
Although not as influential as Swift’s performances, occupancy on the books also jumped for Coldplay concerts set to take place in January (23-24, 26-27 and 30-31) at Singapore National Stadium.
While Coldplay has increased occupancy on the books to 13%, it hasn’t had the same impact as Swift. Occupancy in Singapore for 2-3 March 2024 went from 6% to 12% and then to 16% over those three dates.
Group bookings took over Transient
Since Taylor Swift runs on allocations by agencies, a majority of hotel bookings for the singer’s performances are group bookings allotted and now coming to life. Between 10-17 July, Singapore group bookings for Taylor Swift’s concerts jumped from 6% to 13%.
As expected, the Rotary International Convention, set to take place between 24-29 May 2024 also carries larger groups from around the world. The market is now looking at group bookings peaking at 13% at the end of May (as of 17 July 2023).
As tickets were released for Swift, hotel occupancy on the books for the key dates in March 2024 jumped faster and higher than most events that far out – rivalled only by the Rotary Conference in May 2024.
Marina Bay and Santosa are seeing the highest numbers
While looking at the key submarkets in Singapore, all six nights of Taylor Swift performances show hotels booked up similarly across the island. Apart from some hotels in River Valley getting in on the action, the highest occupancy on the books is seen in Marina Bay at 36% on 3 March, followed by Sentosa at 33% on the same night. On the other hand, hotels in Orchard and Singapore Regional are more muted to date, peaking at 18% and 20%, respectively, on 3 March 2023 (as of 17 July).
