The Counsellors Office of the Shanghai Municipal People’s Government is taking Taylor Swift’s concerts as a starting point for research into “commercial performance tourism” with the hope of seizing the opportunity of the performance economy and creating a “ Model.” For the current Chinese market, a $5 billion “consumer miracle” created by the tour — more than 2 million tickets for 52 shows were sold out on the pre-sale day — would help make a significant boost to the fashion sector. A document released by the State Council last month said that the power to approve the performance of arts groups from Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and overseas, as well as individual performances, be given to the local cultural departments in the cities of Nanjing, Guangzhou, Wuhan and Chengdu.
The decision created excitement in China’s film and television economy and the performance economy, as well as hope it would help light a spark under the country’s flagging fashion consumption. With the year 2024 entering the second half, various measures that have been deployed to boost consumption have been further validated in the market. Among them, film festivals/film exhibitions and music festivals/large-scale concerts have become effective forces that significantly drive consumption.
According to data from the Association of Performing Arts ticketing information collection platform, in the first half of 2024 the number of commercial performances (excluding entertainment performa.