Economists estimate that 0.2 to 0.3% of the 9.7% inflation in Sweden in May is due to the two dates of the American star’s world tour in Stockholm.
In Sweden, inflation was stronger than expected in May. And the person responsible… is the singer Beyoncé! THE wall street journal even call it… “Bey-flation”. Yet the link between the American singer and the Swedish economic situation does not appear to be obvious… First, the observation: Sweden is undergoing significant inflation, largely above the European average. In May, prices rose by 9.7% (which is a notable improvement compared to April: 10.5%). Except that economists expected even less. Surprised , they therefore plunged back into their calculations and realized that an event which they had absolutely not thought of had twisted their statistics: the launch by Beyoncé of her world tour, the Renaissance World Tour, a grandiose spectacle which began with two sold-out concerts in Stockholm on May 10 and 11. Before continuing in Paris, Marseille, and the rest of Europe.
Hotel prices have skyrocketed
Would two concerts be enough to disrupt a country’s inflation curve? Yes. Because we are talking about Queen B, a super, an American mega-star, one of the most listened to artists of all time, crowned with 32 Grammy Awards – no one has ever done better – who makes his big comeback on stage after seven years of absence. That alone can give you an idea of the level of hysteria among his fans. The day after the announcement of the dates of his tour, according to Ticketmaster, demand exceeded the number of tickets available by more than 800%.
You can imagine what happened in Stockholm, where pMore than 46,000 people were present each evening for the two concerts of the singer. Dhe groupies from all over the world have swept over the hotels, especially as the Swedish krona is rather weak against the euro and the dollar, which made the trip advantageous. They took everything up to 65 kilometers around. It drove up the prices. According to Statistics Sweden, “hotel and restaurant prices rose more than 3% in May” for this reason.
The chief economist of Danske Bank, the largest bank in neighboring Denmark, has gone through all the possible data. He estimates that in the end the kickoff of Beyoncé’s tour contributed to national inflation by 0.2%. “That’s pretty amazing for a single event. We’ve never seen this before”said Michael Grahn.
Las Vegas says thank you to Taylor Swift
Beyoncé is not the only artist to have a visible and measurable economic impact on the cities where she performs. Las Vegas experienced the same thing. On Taylor Swift’s “Eras” tour in March – another box office megastar. Thanks to her, the city has regained its level of attendance “before the pandemic”, notes the wall street journal.
Sweden (and in particular its central bank) is watching with a bit of concern the arrival of the Boss, Bruce Sprinsteen, who is to give three concerts in Gothenburg at the end of the month. But economists want to be reassuring, they do not expect anything comparable to the Beyoncé tornado, the effect of which should very quickly fall!