SINGAPORE – Spending by credit and debit card holders in Singapore using UOB’s payment infrastructure surged 35 per cent week on week over March 4 to 10, when four of pop star Taylor Swift’s concerts here took place.

According to first-quarter data released on March 25, spending across almost all tourism-related categories saw a marked surge, led by spending at clothing retailers (up 85 per cent), transportation and travel (up 80 per cent), and amusement and entertainment (up more than 50 per cent).

Hotels rang in nearly 45 per cent growth in card billings, while food and beverage receipts rose more than 30 per cent.

UOB noted that locations in the Marina Bay precinct and Central Business District that are close to the Singapore Sports Hub – where Swift’s The Eras Tour concerts were held – outperformed national levels.

The bank’s card holders alone spent more than $30 million purchasing The Eras Tour tickets, with Singapore-registered cards accounting for almost 75 per cent of total billings, added UOB.

Malaysia contributed to more than 10 per cent of billings, while Thai and Indonesian fans snagged over 5 per cent each.

Almost a third of UOB card holders who purchased tickets to the event used cards issued outside of Singapore.

Nearly 40 per cent of these card holders were previously Citigroup customers who were onboarded as part of UOB’s acquisition of Citi’s consumer banking franchise in the region.

An almost 120 per cent month-on-month spike in UOB card application volumes was reported from June 21 to July 7 in 2023.

This marked the period starting from the announcement of Swift’s The Eras Tour concerts in Singapore, until the end of the general on-sale period.

New-to-card customer applications grew more than 75 per cent over the same period, while new-to-bank applications increased over 50 per cent in terms of primary credit card applications.

UOB also reported a 4 percentage point growth in credit card applications among 25- to 29-year-olds.

Notably, the period in which card application volumes surged coincided with The Eras Tour’s pre-sale event in Singapore, which was available exclusively to UOB customers.

All pre-sale tickets sold out on the day of their launch on July 5, 2023, with more than a million virtual queue numbers issued within the first 10 minutes.

In the months following the ticketing window, the bank’s registered card holders outside of Singapore who bought tickets for the event here spent more on a year-on-year basis with their UOB cards.

The total spending of Malaysian UOB card holders who bought tickets to The Eras Tour in Singapore grew more than 50 per cent over July 1, 2023, to March 8, 2024, when compared with the same period the year before.

Thai UOB card holders’ spending surged more than 45 per cent year on year.

The bank also noted that card attrition rates remained “stable and low” in the months following the ticketing sales to date – a “clear indication that a significant majority of card holders, longstanding and new, are seeing the value in (its) cards”.