Move over, Taylor Swift. Her Eras tour was the highest grossing in history, sparking an estimated $5bn in direct consumer spending across the US. But now another musical phenomenon is preparing to sweep through North America – and economists expect it will generate tens of billions of dollars in economic activity along the way.
K-pop sensation BTS will embark this year on their largest tour yet, spanning 34 regions across five continents, ending a hiatus due to mandatory military service that lasted almost four years.
“The BTS tour will be the event of the year,” Timothy Calkins, a marketing professor at Northwestern University, said. “Every stop is going to see a boost in tourism, hotel occupancy, and economic activity to an extraordinary degree that might be even bigger than Taylor Swift.”
The first US stop is Tampa, Florida, on 15 April. Tickets have yet to go on sale, but that has not stopped fans like Leslie Huynh, 28, from booking up flights and hotels.
“It’s a meme at this point that once BTS announces a tour, you just book hotels and flights first and tickets will somehow appear whether that is resale or not,” she said. “I consider BTS to be a very expensive hobby of mine – like, they are what I spend my money on.”
Huynh, a film equipment rentals associate based in New York, hopes to attend 11 cities on the tour, catching 22 shows along the way. She expects to spend at least $6,000.
When she travels for a concert, Huynh explores the city and ventures on a “BTS pilgrimage”, hitting up spots the boyband has visited, such as restaurants or tourist attractions.
“BTS has changed my life, and I hold them so near to my heart,” she said, acknowledging that this might sound dramatic. “They are genuinely a reason to wake up when you don’t feel like it. They are something to look forward to, especially with this tour.”
Economists say BTS fans, known as Army, share similar traits with Swifties: loyalty, age demographic and a willingness to spend. But there’s one key difference.
“BTS fans are much more passionate and committed than western artists’ fans,” Seoyoung Kwon, an economic researcher at Yonsei University, said. “Especially given that BTS have not toured in so long, many BTS fans are willing to go the extra mile and attend concerts not just in their [home] country, but in other countries and cities as well.”
The group’s most recent tour in 2021, Permission to Dance, featured just three cities and 12 shows total. Four nights in Los Angeles reportedly generated over $100m for the local economy, while Las Vegas was estimated to have picked up $160m in revenue, figures that the upcoming 79-show tour is expected to multiply many times over.
Nearly three in five gen Z and millennials are willing to travel more than 50 miles for concerts, according to a 2024 Bread Financial survey. Non-local attenders spend about 3.4 times their ticket cost on traveling and tourism expenses in the local economy.
But Michael Mariano, head of economic development at Tourism Economics, emphasized: “These average figures aren’t applicable to BTS. They will well surpass these numbers, and I honestly don’t think it’s possible to understand how big this tour can be.”
This combination of factors – mass following, high demand, and willingness to travel – has created perfect conditions for BTS’s most impactful tour yet, economists say.
“With BTS, it’s not just a concert,” Cailey Merulla, a content strategist in New Jersey, said with a wide smile. She plans to attend six shows across three different US cities during the upcoming tour.
“BTS got me through the worst parts of my life and they are an unconditional source of happiness,” added Merulla, 25. “I genuinely don’t know where I would be without them so I try to see them any chance I get.”
Like Huynh, Merulla plans to build a vacation itinerary around the concert and pop-up events to connect with fellow fans. She also hopes to meet up with friends flying in from the UK for the shows in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
“Not only are the boys born performers and the whole show is spectacle, but I often meet friends I would’ve never met had it not been for a concert,” Merulla laughed. “Traveling for BTS is always a no-brainer for me.”
She will not be alone, according to tourism experts.
“The tour brings some much needed good news for the US in a time where US tourism is declining,” Richie Karaburun, professor of hospitality and tourism at the New York University, said. “It’s the trickle-down effect, and that is what expands the potential economic reach of this BTS tour.”
Calkins, at Northwestern University, explained that an initial splurge on concert tickets typically causes a ripple effect. Concertgoers become tourists, and boost the local economy.
“These events don’t just bring people to a city – they showcase the city to the world,” he said. “The BTS tour is an opportunity for cities to enhance their brand and attract more people in a way that’s hard to replicate through traditional marketing.”
Fan-organized events and pop-up vendors are likely to increase economic impact of the BTS tour beyond that of the Eras tour, according to Karaburun. “These events are very specific to K-pop fanbases,” he said. “The overlapping pop-ups with the tour is going to be a phenomenal opportunity for small businesses and many entrepreneurs at large.”
Small businesses are already mobilizing. Cherry Benyasri, 30, and her sister Neon, 28, run a K-pop inspired clothing brand called Ordinary Affair. They see the BTS tour as an opportunity for promotion and events aligning with the LA shows.
“We are running off of the hype and excitement of BTS’s comeback for a new product launch soon,” Cherry said. “Compared to the time BTS were away and now, you can feel Army’s excitement and they are showing up stronger than before.”
Jaerim Choi, professor of economics at Yonsei University, sees the tour as part of a sustained expansion of Korean consumer goods in the US market. Last year, the US imported more than $2bn in Korean beauty products, up 34% from 2024, driven by K-pop’s cultural influence, according to research by Kwon and Choi.
“This is much bigger than concerts,” Choi said. “This BTS tour will only accelerate the Korean boom. It’s not just short-term economic gain. It’s expanding the entire Korean consumer market in the US for the long horizon.”
The scope and scale of this tour remains to be determined, with BTS already hinting that more dates will be unveiled. “They don’t have to worry about demand,” said Mariano. “It’s guaranteed fans will show up.”
