No Sweet Music For Malaysian Economy

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Tickets for the six-show Taylor Swift tour in Singapore in March next year began selling online on Wednesday.
Just over an hour after the virtual ticket booth opened, more than 1.3 million eager fans, many Malaysians among them, were already in the queue.
A vast majority of them, including Malaysian fans, are going to be disappointed.
The national stadium in Singapore, where the concerts will be held, can accommodate about 55,000 people per show. Over six shows, only 330,000 will get to see her perform.
Tickets are priced at S$108 to S$348 (RM372 to RM1,200). At a more conservative average of RM500 a ticket, the organisers will rake in RM27.5 million per show, for a total of RM165 million over six performances.
That’s a lot of money to boost the economy.
There are millions of “swifties”, as Taylor Swift fans are called, in Malaysia. Those who can afford it have already joined the queue for tickets for her performance in Singapore.
Collectively, they are likely to spend millions on tickets and perhaps a lot more when they are there. Most would take advantage of such a trip to add shopping and sightseeing onto their travel itinerary.
As it is with the recent brouhaha with British rock band Coldplay, our self-righteous moral police will likely conclude that Taylor Swift will be a bad influence on our young.
Coldplay is reportedly not likely to get a second date on its tour of Malaysia in November.
But those who fail to get tickets for its one-night performance in Kuala Lumpur will get another chance to see them on stage in Singapore in January next year.
The demand for tickets for the Singapore tour has been so overwhelming that the organisers have decided to add two more shows to the four originally planned.
Now, the fans who fail to get tickets for their only show in Kuala Lumpur will have to make a date with the group in Singapore. Those who cannot afford the additional cost of travel and hotel stay will just have to be disappointed.
An additional show in Kuala Lumpur in November will no doubt sell out as well, going by reports that people were reportedly willing to pay up to RM43,000 for a ticket on the black market.
Officially, the tickets are priced at RM228 to RM3,088.
Apart from Singapore, fans from neighbouring countries Thailand and Indonesia are likely to be drawn to Kuala Lumpur. The spillover benefits for Malaysian businesses, from hotel stays, shopping and dining, would be enormous.
But the British rock band’s support for LGBTQ causes was unacceptable to our self-righteous moral police.
In the process, we not only fail to cash in on a sure bet but will also end up losing millions to Singapore as Malaysians drive or fly south in droves to see their idols perform.
It will be the same with Taylor Swift’s performance next year. Going by the long queue for tickets, several million fans would likely not get within a mile of the virtual ticket counter.
She has opted to give Malaysia a miss in her tour so her fans will just have to travel to Singapore.
That is a loss for Malaysia. - FMT
The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.

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