President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo on Monday expressed disappointment over the outflow of Indonesian money from the country as Singapore became the exclusive stop of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour in ASEAN countries.
Singapore saw a six-day concert tour with Taylor Swift.
Indonesia is home to millions of “Swifties” as the artist’s fans are nicknamed. Taylor Swift is listened to by 2.2 million Indonesians on the music platform Spotify. Since the country failed to host the Eras Tour, many Indonesians went to a nearby neighborhood in early March to see the “Cruel Summer” artist. According to Jokowi, of the 360,000 visitors in Singapore, Half were Indonesians.
“So there was a capital outflow because Indonesian money went to Singapore. We didn’t just lose money for concert tickets. But we also lost money because people spent money on hotels, transportation, food, and drink,” Jokowi said at the launch of Indonesia’s digital event permit system in Jakarta.
The president did not give details on how much money Indonesia lost because of the Singapore Eras Tour concert.
Jokowi recalled that many Indonesians also flew to Singapore for the Coldplay concert, another significant loss of economic opportunity. Tickets for Coldplay’s one-day concert in Jakarta in 2023 sold out in just 20 minutes, and Indonesia failed to convince the British rock band to add another date.
Coldplay, however, extended their Singapore concert from four to five and finally to six days as it was sold out. According to the president, “Half of the tickets could have been sold to Indonesians who couldn’t get tickets at home. I asked the organizers of the event how this happened, and they admitted that it was difficult to get permission in Indonesia,” Jokowi said.
Economists estimate that a Taylor Swift concert could bring up to 500 million Singapore dollars in tourism revenue to the country’s economy, which is certainly no small sum. Let’s see how our country copes in the future, and hopefully, we’ll get to see our beloved artists at home.
