Thailand and the Philippines hoped to bring Taylor Swift’s Era Tour to their respective countries to give their citizens something to cheer about. However, Taylor was already booked to perform exclusively in Singapore for six days. Apparently, the Singapore government paid for this exclusive agreement, which prevented Taylor from performing in any other country in Southeast Asia. This deal was criticised by the Thai Prime Minister and the Philippines for being a selfish act towards other countries in the region.
The Singaporean Minister Culture and Youth, Edwin Tong, defended the deal, stating that the government paid around US$3 million for the full six performances, not US$18 million as suggested by the Thai Prime Minister. He explained that the decision was made by AEG, the promoter of the tour, who considered all factors before deciding where Taylor would perform. But we all know promoters are interested to cover the cost and make profits, if a proposal is presented to cover all the 6 nights in Asia by a single country with only a minor caveat of exclusivity…the deal sounds good enough.
However, both Thailand and the Philippines were not satisfied with the explanation. They believed that the six-day performance could have been split across other Southeast Asian countries. They argued that Singapore’s backdoor deal was unacceptable for blocking and preventing other countries from experiencing a desired performance.
Taylor’s shows generate as much as A$1.2 billion estimated economic value when she performs, as reported by analysts. She will be performing to a crowd of 300,000 across the six sold-out concerts in Singapore.
