Are you ready for it? "It" being traveling abroad to see a concert that's cheaper in another country? This Fairfax, Virginia-based travel expert has some tips.
Taylor Swift is currently on the European leg of “The Eras Tour,” and her biggest fans, known as Swifties, are turning their wildest dreams into reality with trips abroad to see the singer perform.
Melinda Fortunato is a luxury travel adviser who owns Best Travel, a travel agency based in Fairfax Station, Virginia. She just helped a mother and daughter plan their summer trip to London to go to one of the concerts.
“The focus was going to see Taylor Swift, and then they just decided to build the vacation around it,” Fortunato said. “It was easier and less expensive to get tickets there.”
WTOP looked up some ticket prices and found tickets to Swift’s Madrid show going for about $150 and tickets to her Lisbon show costing about $230. But if you wait to see her back in the United States in the fall, tickets to her shows in Miami and Indianapolis are going for about $2,000 each.
Fans are totaling up the costs and choosing to head overseas instead.
“If you can go on vacation and spend the same amount, then why not do that?” said Fortunato, who even had a 60-year-old client inquire about a Toronto vacation to catch “The Eras Tour.”
Fortunato said the interest in traveling to see Swift is not surprising because clients often plan vacations around popular shows. She predicts the next travel trend will be going to Thailand, where Max (formerly HBO) will be filming the third season of its hit show, “The White Lotus.”
“There are trends that make people want to go certain places,” Fortunato said, adding, “Because if you think about ‘The White Lotus,’ and ‘Downton Abbey,’ or ‘Emily in Paris,’ people are constantly asking for trips based on those TV shows and going to those places. … So it’s similar in that respect.”
