Last month, Beyoncé’s world tour kicked off in Sweden, causing a surge in demand for hotels and restaurant meals.
This frenzy was so significant that it has now manifested in the country’s economic statistics.
Shockingly, Sweden reported a higher-than-expected inflation rate of 9.7% in May, with the rising prices of hotels and restaurants being the primary cause.
Michael Grahn, an esteemed economist at Danske Bank, believes that Beyoncé’s tour was the driving force behind the sudden increase in hotel rates. Additionally, he suggests that Queen Bey may have also been responsible for the unexpectedly strong uptick in recreation and culture prices.
“I wouldn’t … blame Beyoncé for [the] high inflation print, but her performance and global demand to see her perform in Sweden apparently added a little to it,” he wrote in an email to the BBC.
There is not much doubt that the singer’s first solo tour in seven years is a significant economic event. According to one estimate, the run may earn nearly £2 billion by the time it concludes in September.
Airbnb reported that searches for rentals in cities on the tour increased after the announcement. Many performances sold out in a matter of days, and resale prices skyrocketed.
60,000 people came from Cardiff in the United Kingdom, including fans from Lebanon, the United States, and Australia. Demand for hotel rooms associated with her London show was so high that some homeless families being accommodated in a hotel by the local authorities were reportedly kicked out to make space for her admirers.
The Stockholm concerts, where Beyoncé played to a crowd of 46,000 for two nights, reportedly drew fans from around the world – especially the US, where a strong dollar against the krona helped to make tickets in the Nordic country seem a relative steal.
In an email to the Washington Post last month, Visit Stockholm described the boom in tourism to the city as the “Beyoncé effect”.
Inflation in Sweden peaked at 12.3% in December. The 9.7% rate last month was down from 10.5% in April, official figures show. Financial markets had expected around 9.4%.
For one star to have such an impact is “very rare”, Mr Grahn told the BBC, adding that big soccer tournaments can have a similar effect.
He wrote on social media that he expected trends to return to normal this month.
