Taylor Swift sings about Portofino on her new album - and searches for the popular seaside resort on the Italian Riviera are already on the rise. Platforms such as "Google" and "Booking" are experiencing the "Swift Effect".
Taylor Swift released her new album "The Life of a Showgirl" on October 3. In the song "Elizabeth Taylor", the US singer sings about the beautiful view of the picturesque coastal town of Portofino - and according to the travel platform Fodor's, "Google" searches immediately shot up by 271%.
The booking platform "booking.com" also reported a sharp increase in search queries from the USA for trips to Portofino between October 3 and 6 - compared to the same period in 2024. The timing coincided with the release of the new album.
Portofino, a picturesque fishing village on the Ligurian coast near Genoa, became a meeting place for the jet set in the 1960s after gaining international fame thanks to the Hollywood film "The Barefoot Contessa" (1954) starring Humphrey Bogart and Ava Gardner. To this day, the chic seaside resort attracts illustrious guests.
The mention of Portofino in the song "Elizabeth Taylor" is more than just a poetic image: Richard Burton is said to have asked Elizabeth Taylor to marry him in the coastal town in 1964. The couple later lived in the "Hôtel Plaza Athénée" in Paris, which remained one of her favorite hotels until the end of Taylor's life.
And so Taylor Swift also sings about a call from a loved one at the "Hôtel Plaza Athénée". The hotel responds immediately with an Instagram post: If the phone rang at the "Plaza Athénée", who would be on the line? Probably someone who stole Taylor Swift's heart.
It is uncertain whether the residents of the chic port city are happy about the effects of the "Swift effect". The chic harbor town has been struggling with overtourism for some time now. It is regularly overrun by lovers of the Mediterranean flair and the colorful houses of the village.
