The Live Tourism Events That Will Shape 2026

Nearly three years after Taylor Swift launched her record-breaking Eras Tour, live tourism continues to be a major force in the travel industry.

Cities like London and New York are leaning into music residencies to draw in crowds. More than 562,000 fans in India traveled to a different city for a music event — up 18% from last year.  A recent survey from Live Nation, Ticketmaster’s parent company, found 40% of live music attendees traveled at least 500 miles for a music event in 2025. 

“More than ever, fans are willing to travel to see live music,” said Alisha Strother, Live Nation’s vice president of fan insights. “Fans are traveling not only for mega-tours, but also for pop, country, Latin, EDM, and legacy rock, as well as for festivals, residencies, and multi-night runs.”

Events Driving Live Tourism in 2026

Among the standout live events in 2026:

Solar Eclipse: On August 12, a total solar eclipse will pass over Russia, Greenland, Iceland, Spain, and Portugal. If the event is anything like the 2024 solar eclipse — which drew in millions of travelers — destinations along the path of totality could have their hands full.

Spain has announced a special commission to prepare for three full and partial eclipses that will cross the country in 2026, 2027, and 2028, and has launched  initiatives to help rural communities in the eclipses’ path organize festivals and events. Iceland will host a four-day eclipse festival in 2026 to help win over tourists.  
 

Live music: The new year will feature a number of concerts from big-name artists. 

Rapper Bad Bunny’s world tour continues in 2026 with stops in more than a dozen countries across South America, Australia, Asia, and Europe. His three-month 2025 residency in Puerto Rico generated more than $700 million in direct economic impact, according to a report by Gaither International.  

- The Weeknd’s After Hours Til Dawn tour will hit Latin America and Europe between April and September, extending its 2025 run. Billboard Boxscore ranked his tour among the top five for the year, earning $336.7 million.   

- Ariana Grande’s Eternal Sunshine Tour comes to the U.S., Canada, and UK this summer.   

- The Mayhem Ball from Lady Gaga continues in early 2026 with stops in Japan and the U.S. 

- Ed Sheeran’s Loop Tour stops at nearly two dozen cities in North America between June and November. 

- Journey’s “Final Frontier” tour takes the rock band across North America between February and July.

- Guns N’ Roses’ 2026 world tour includes stops in North America, South America, and Europe.

- Rush returns to the stage after more than a decade with its Fifty Something tour — the band’s first since the death of drummer Neil Peart. The tour stretches from June to December with stops in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.

- Metallica’s world tour continues in 2026 with stops across Europe between May and July.

- My Chemical Romance’s The Black Parade 2026 stadium tour kicks off January 22 in Colombia. The rock band will perform in cities across South America, North America, Europe, and Asia through November.

- Rapper Cardi B’s Little Miss Drama tour across North America will span from February to April.

- There will be residencies inside and outside Las Vegas from artists and bands like Bon Jovi, No Doubt, Kenny Chesney, and Backstreet Boys.

Music festivals are also shown to be especially popular with travelers, with two-thirds of attendees from out of town, according to Live Nation’s Strother. 

Searches for Airbnbs in Chicago during the 2025 Lollapalooza festival were up nearly 35% from last year, according to Juan David Borrero, Airbnb’s global head of partnerships and business development.
 

World Cup: Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy earlier this month said he expects the 2026 World Cup — the largest to date, with 104 matches across 16 North American host cities — to draw in 6 million people to the U.S.

“I wouldn’t fight the World Cup for anything,” Liz Everett Krisberg, head of the Bank of America Institute, said in a recent video on her 2026 outlook. “For the past two years, we have seen people want to be together. People want live events. And what we see in our data is around these, these really significant, live events, you see an uptick of between seven and 10% of spending in those local areas.”

Spending Outlook

Moody’s Ratings expects a softening labor market and cooling wage gains to bring consumer spending growth to 1.5% next year, down from 2.5% to 3% annually in 2023 to 2024.

But Everett Krisberg said consumers are still willing to spend on travel and experiences. They’re just making more “choiceful decisions” than during the post-pandemic lockdown surge in travel.

“They are still spending, but they’re going to figure out where they’re going to do it responsibly,” she said. 

Lighthouse’s director of hospitality research Blake Reiter also sees signs of travelers tightening their budgets. While people aren’t scaling back the number of trips they take, he said, the amount of spending per trip may decline in 2026. 

“We’re still seeing plenty of travel, plenty of desire to travel, just more from a budget-conscious standpoint,” he told Skift. “As people tighten their budgets, they’re going to be focused on making sure the travel that they do have is meaningful and impactful. So I don’t think it’s going anywhere.”