BEYOND LOCAL: Can the Taylor Swift effect jolt Toronto’s sputtering tourism industry?

The pop superstar is slated to swoop into town for a six-night run at the Rogers Centre this November Visitors injected billions of dollars into Toronto's economy last year, a new study finds, but tourists have yet to return to pre-pandemic levels amid signs of slowing growth. Some 26.5 million visitors arrived in 2023 and spent $8.4 billion — the bulk of it on hotels, restaurants and transportation — according to a report from Tourism Economics. However, tourist numbers fell short of the high water mark in 2019, when 28 million people descended on the city, according to tourism organization…