BURST
When Bruno Mars closes out The Romantic Tour in Vancouver later this year, local businesses are hoping it will provide a much-needed economic boost after a slow 2025.
Mars is scheduled to play four shows at B.C. Place in October, drawing tens of thousands of fans to Vancouver . Nearby businesses are hoping it will provide a boost similar to Taylor Swift’s 2024 Eras Tour.
Eduardo Gonzalez, owner of Patron Tacos and Cantina on Robson Street a few blocks from B.C. Place, said Swift’s three-show stop in Vancouver was “the best three-day span we’ve had in a very long time.”
“For the three days we thought we were ready, but we weren’t,” he said. “It was pretty overwhelming. From the morning until night, we were busy — all throughout the day and at night.”
The Eras Tour brought an estimated $157 million in economic benefits, according to Destination Vancouver and B.C. Pavilion Corp. (PavCo), which manages B.C. Place.
Ninety-seven million of that was direct spending on accommodation, retail, restaurants and transportation, with more than 70 per cent coming from out-of-town visitors. The concerts also brought in more than $27 million in tax revenue at all three levels of government, Destination Vancouver said in a news release .
“It was the most we’ve sold, I think, since pre-COVID,” Gonzalez said of business during the three-day event.
Tourism officials say it is too early to estimate what the economic impact of the tour could be, but noted that it doesn’t need to be as large as the Eras Tour to have an effect.
“Even a fraction of that impact is meaningful to downtown businesses, and I don’t think Bruno Mars is only going to be a fraction of that,” said Jane Talbot, president of Vancouver’s Downtown Business Improvement Association.
“These kinds of concerts are a really good reminder of what downtown does the best — bring people together for unforgettable experiences, right? And concerts really, really do that,” Talbot said.
“The Eras Tour showed how a major concert event can extend well beyond the stadium, with local businesses, neighbourhoods, and community partners creating their own moments around the city,” said Suzanne Walters, communications director at Destination Vancouver.
Gonzalez is currently working on a custom menu and other preparations for the World Cup coming to the city this summer, and hopes to see more big events come to Vancouver.
“I think the city should do everything in its power to promote concerts, to bring in more people, because right now, the economy is not good,” Gonzalez said. “I’ve been talking to other restaurant owners, and they’re telling me the exact same thing.”
Mars will kick off the Romantic Tour on April 10 in Las Vegas and close it at B.C. Place. The first date announced for Vancouver is Oct. 14.
The four concerts mark the end of the North American leg of The Romantic Tour, surpassing the trio of tour-ending Eras Tour concerts that Taylor Swift performed in December 2024.
With a file from Stuart Derdeyn.
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