The Japan Times - Celine Dion's Paris concerts promise to spin the money on and on

The 58-year-old Canadian singer announced last month that she was returning to the stage for 16 concerts after a lengthy break prompted by a rare health condition.

She could prove the latest in a series of stars to bring with them significant economic uplift from music fans, following Taylor Swift's record-breaking Eras Tour and as the South Korean mega-group BTS embarks on its tour.

The Eiffel Tower was lit up to honour the return of the singer -- who sings both in French and English -- and with the city covered in billboards and posters, Parisian businesses are hoping the tour will prove a major money spinner.

Dion's tour could bring an additional 300 million to 500 million euros ($351-$585 million) into the city, said Alexandra Dublanche, president of Choose Paris Region, the organisation that promotes the wider Paris area.

This includes ticket sales, hotel and restaurant bookings, retail spending and more, she told AFP, adding that international visitors tend to spend more than domestic travellers.

When Swift held four concerts in Paris in 2024, the city saw an economic boost of around 150-180 million euros, Dublanche said.

Dion has said she was diagnosed with Stiff Person Syndrome, an incurable autoimmune disorder, and she was forced to cancel her last tour dates due to both the Covid pandemic and ill health.

The latest tickets for Dion's shows went on sale Friday, with an estimated half a million fans to attend the concerts, a third from overseas, according to Dublanche.

Others have put the figure higher, with MKG Consulting estimating the potential economic impact at more than one billion euros, including a 180-million-euro boost for the Parisian hotel industry.

MKG analyst Vanguelis Panayotis said the economic benefits could reach 1.2 billion euros if taking into account transportation, and all the associated expenses and logistics of Dion's support team as well as fans.

-'Driver of travel' -

Swift's Eras tour became the highest-grossing musical tour in history, with ticket revenues estimated at more than $2 billion and hundreds of millions of dollars in extra economic activity in cities where she performed.

"Major musical events are a driver of travel," said Vanessa Heydorff, managing director for France at Booking.com.

The hotel reservation site said that searches for Paris around the dates of Dion's concerts increased by 49 percent.

The Adagio chain, which has ten hotels in the city's La Defense district where the concerts will be held, saw a 400 percent increase in bookings.

"This will be good for Paris because the capital is currently experiencing a drop in hotel occupancy rates" due to the international situation, said Didier Arino, chief executive at the consulting firm Protourisme.

Arthur Lemoine, CEO of the high-end Galeries Lafayette department stores, said they saw a boost in shoppers during Swift's concerts, not only during the days when she was performing in Paris, but also around the timing of gigs in the neighbouring city of Lyon.

"Celine Dion's presence in Paris for a month and a half should definitely benefit business on Boulevard Haussmann," he said, referring to the high-end street that is home to Galeries Lafayette's flagship store.

After South Korea's BTS announced two coming concert dates in Paris, searches for hotels in the French capital soared by 590 percent, according to the Hotels.com website.

"This phenomenon is part of a broader trend called 'gig-tripping', where the concert becomes the starting point but not the sole reason for booking a trip," said Heydorff, adding the challenge was to keep the visiting fans within the region in the days before and after the concert.

For Panayotis, at MKG, "Events that draw fans -- whether a singer, an artist or a football team -- are becoming an extremely powerful indicator of tourism spending, something we're seeing everywhere."

"There's a real strategic advantage [for cities] in attracting events of this kind because they generate extremely strong economic benefits," he said.

T.Kobayashi--JT