The cost of that Memorial Day travel

Summary

Marketplace Morning Report
Episode: The cost of that Memorial Day travel
Date: May 22, 2026

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Overview

This episode of Marketplace Morning Report, hosted by Sabri Ben-Achour, covers the financial realities facing Americans as they prepare for Memorial Day travel in the context of record-high gas prices, evolving consumer spending habits, and a turbulent live music industry. The episode unpacks the economic, political, and social implications of these trends and provides insights from experts across business and behavioral economics.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Memorial Day Travel & Gas Prices

(Segment begins at 01:32)

• Higher Gas Prices: The national average for a gallon of regular gas has risen to $4.56, fueling concerns for road travelers. Prices are particularly elevated in states like California ($6.13) and Texas ($4.09).
• Geopolitical Causes: The spike of about $1.40 per gallon is attributed to recent military escalations involving the US, Israel, and Iran, which led to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz—a critical oil passage.
• Traveler Adjustments: Despite the price hike, AAA expects 39 million Americans to travel by car (a slight increase from last year, but the smallest in a decade). However, more people are choosing shorter trips.
• Air Travel: Airfare is around 6% lower compared to previous years since most tickets were purchased pre-crisis, and 3.5 million are expected to fly domestically.

Notable Quote:
“Prices are up about $1.40 since the US and Israel attacked Iran and Iran effectively closed off the Strait of Hormuz.”
— Nova Safo (01:53)

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2. Political & Consumer Reaction to Gas Prices

(Segment begins at 02:41)

• Chevron vs. Newsom: California Governor Gavin Newsom is publicly urging consumers to seek alternatives to Chevron’s high prices, blaming the company’s claims about state climate policies for obfuscating the real causes.
• Consumer Sentiment: The University of Michigan’s monthly Consumer Sentiment report, released later this morning, is expected to reflect low confidence, marking the lowest sentiment since the pandemic-era inflation spike.
• Disconnect between Sentiment & Spending:
  • Despite economic stressors (gas, interest rates, job market), actual consumer spending remains strong, particularly on travel, leisure, and discretionary items.
  • Higher-income consumers are driving this continued spending, while lower-income consumers are forced to bear rising costs without flexibility.
  • Behavioral economist Sion Benoit notes that those who need to drive daily simply have no choice but to absorb the costs.

Notable Quotes:
“As far as overall spending when it comes to gas prices, we haven’t seen an effect yet. Consumers are absorbing the prices and not cutting back on discretionary purchases like travel.”
— Sophia Beg, Morning Consult Economist (03:37)

“They have no choice. If you’re driving to work, you got to fill your gas tank.”
— Sion Benoit, Swarthmore College Behavioral Economist (04:08)

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3. Impact on Live Music & Touring

(Segment begins at 06:29)

• Tour Cancellations: High-profile artists like Post Malone, Meghan Trainor, Zayn Malik, and the Pussycat Dolls have cut back or canceled tours, citing personal reasons and challenging economics.
• Blue Dot Fever:
  • Refers to the visible clusters of unsold seats on ticketing platforms.
  • Artists and promoters monitor these “blue dots” to gauge demand, sometimes canceling shows when sales lag.
  • There is industry debate over the visibility and interpretation of these unsold seats—promoters often hide the real extent to maintain demand perception.
• Rising Tour Costs: Touring has become more expensive due to higher fuel prices and logistics costs, reversing the classic touring model where tours promote record sales—instead, tours are now the main earners, and music helps sell tickets.

Notable Quotes:
“The cost of doing business at the tour level is much, much higher this summer. It’s probably going to be even worse because the fuel costs are going to be really high and that drives prices up for everything.”
— Dave Clark, Ticket News (07:59)

“The actual visibility of what unsold seats are even showing up as blue dots is not necessarily a guarantee of a comprehensive manifest of unsold seats.”
— Dave Clark, Ticket News (08:40)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Memorial Day Travel & Gas Prices: 01:32 – 02:41
• Political & Consumer Reaction: 02:41 – 04:16
• Consumer Sentiment & Spending Trends: 03:16 – 04:44
• Music Industry / Tour Cancellations / Blue Dot Fever: 06:29 – 09:32

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Memorable Moments

• The interplay between geopolitical conflict and everyday costs at the gas pump, underscoring how global events quickly affect American consumers.
• The psychological split between low consumer sentiment and high discretionary spending.
• The music industry’s new touring economics, with “Blue Dot Fever” as a modern symptom of financial pressure and market transparency.

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Tone & Language

The episode maintains Marketplace’s clear, concise, and slightly analytical tone, contextualizing pressing economic trends without alarmism. The hosts and guests present complex issues in accessible language, balancing factual reporting with direct quotes from expert sources.

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Summary

This brisk episode efficiently connects the dots between war-driven fuel price surges, the ripple effects on summer travel and leisure, and novel stresses in the live events industry. It provides both hard numbers and human perspectives, punctuated with expert opinions and real-world implications—equipping listeners with a comprehensive snapshot of Memorial Day economics in 2026.

Transcript

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[Commercial Announcer]

hitting

[Sabri Ben-Achour]

the road and the Wallet from Marketplace I'm Sabri Ben, ashore in New York. Memorial Day weekend is here. The summer travel season has begun. More Americans are expected to hit the roads this year than last. They will, however, be met with the highest gas prices in four years. Marketplaces Nova Sappho has more.

[Nova Safo]

The national average for a gallon of Regular gas is $4.56, according to AAA. It's 409 in Texas, 613 in California. Prices are up about $1.40 since the US and Israel attacked Iran and Iran effectively closed off the Strait of Hormuz. There are signs some Americans are adjusting their travel plans. AAA expects 39 million people to hit the roads this weekend, an increase from last year, but the smallest increase in a decade. Also, more Americans will opt to drive shorter distances. According to GasBuddy, airline travelers this weekend are set to be less affected. AAA projects three and a half million people will take domestic flights with average airfare about 6% cheaper because most trips were booked before the Iran war. I'm Nova Safo for Marketplace.

[Sabri Ben-Achour]

California governor Gavin Newsom got into it yesterday with Chevron over gas prices. His office urged people to ditch Chevron in favor of cheaper, unbranded alternative. Chevron had said gas was so expensive because of the state's climate policies. All of this raises a question, which is how are you feeling financially? The University of Michigan asks consumers this and other questions every month for its Consumer Sentiment report coming out later this morning For May. Earlier this month was looking pretty bad. Lowest sentiment since the mega inflation of the pandemic, Marketplace's Mitchell Hartman reports.

[Mitchell Hartman]

There's a lot weighing on consumer sentiment right now. Rising gas prices and utility bills, high interest rates, a tough labor market for new grads and other job seekers. But there's also a conundrum here, one we've faced before. While sentiments hit rock bottom, spending remains strong, says morning consult economist Sophia Beg.

[Sophia Beg]

As far as overall spending when it comes to gas prices, we haven't seen an effect yet. Consumers are absorbing the prices and not

[Mitchell Hartman]

cutting back on discretionary purchases like travel,

[Sophia Beg]

airfare, hotels, restaurants, recreation, which would include baseball games, movie theaters. Those all have been increasing.

[Mitchell Hartman]

Higher income consumers are driving a lot of that spending. Lower income folks, meanwhile, are just belted in for the ride, says Swarthmore College behavioral economist Sion Banot.

[Nova Safo]

They have no choice. If you're driving to work, you got

[Sabri Ben-Achour]

to fill your gas tank.

[Nova Safo]

You might get frustrated to see the prices higher, but you know, what are you going to do about it?

[Mitchell Hartman]

With inflation rising, political strife at home and geopolitical tensions abroad, Benoit doesn't expect sentiment to rebound anytime soon. I'm Mitchell Hartman for Marketplace.

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[Sabri Ben-Achour]

Morning post Malone Meghan Trainor Zayn Malik the Pussycat Dolls Just a few of the artists who have cut back on or entirely canceled their tours this summer. Some have cited personal reasons. Others have said the economics are just not great. In the music industry, there is a word for one possible explanation. Blue dot fever. When you look at a seat map when you're buying tickets, all the empty seats show up as blue dots. If you are an artist looking at that and you see too many of those dots, you might just call the whole show off. Dave Clark is a senior staff writer at Ticket News and is here to talk about it.

[Dave Clark]

Hi Dave, Good morning. Thanks for having me.

[Sabri Ben-Achour]

There have been, you know, a bunch of high profile cancellations. Is this level of cancellation normal or is there something going on?

[Dave Clark]

I think both can be true. There's always going to be cancellations, you know, different tours for any number of reasons that you can think of will cancel. However, it does feel like at least the sentiment is that there is something more meaningful with what is going on right now based on just the pressures that consumers are feeling and the prices and things of that nature. Whether or not it's a longer term issue remains to be seen, but it's definitely the perception is that there's something more significant than just a normal tour cancellation batch.

[Sabri Ben-Achour]

Has it also gotten expensive for the artists themselves to go on tour?

[Dave Clark]

Oh, unquestionably. The cost of doing business at the tour level is much, much higher this summer. It's probably going to be even worse because you know, the fuel costs are going to be really high and that drives prices up for everything. Particularly if it's a large scale tour that has like set pieces that are moving from city to city. The paradigm Used to be you would go on tour to support your new music and album sales, and now it's really flee clipped on its head where a lot of these artists are earning their living on their touring income, and then the music is basically, you know, more of a promotion for the tickets rather than the other way around.

[Sabri Ben-Achour]

Blue Dot Fever is this term that refers to unsold tickets. The head of Live Nation said, this is not a thing. Is this a thing?

[Dave Clark]

It's impossible to say that it isn't happening now. Where they might have a more realistic argument is it's not abnormal for tours or individual shows to be underperforming relative to what they might hope. The actual visibility of what unsold seats are even showing up as blue dots is not necessarily a guarantee of a comprehensive manifest of unsold seats. A lot of times unsold seats are completely hidden from the visible manifest in order to drive the perception that a show is less available inventory than it actually has. So even the fact that, you know, there's as many blue dots showing up for certain shows is kind of significant because that might not even be, you know, a comprehensive indicator of how many seats are unsold. They want to, you know, effectively drive the perception that there are fewer seats available than there might actually be in reality.

[Sabri Ben-Achour]

Dave Clark is a senior staff writer at Ticket News. Dave, thank you so much.

[Commercial Announcer]

Thank you.

[Sabri Ben-Achour]

In New York, I'm Sabri Benishour with the Marketplace Morning Report. From apm, American Public Media.

[Nova Safo]

There's so much happening in the world, and if you have particularly, shall we say, inquisitive kids, it can be hard to answer their questions.

[Commercial Announcer]

Hi, I'm Ryan.

[Sophia Beg]

And I'm Bridget. And we host Million Bazillion, a podcast from Marketplace about money for kids and their families. We help your little ones think big about important but tricky topics like taxes, gas prices, and even what a cashless society might be like.

[Nova Safo]

There's a bunch of new episodes out now, so go listen to Million Bazillion on your favorite podcast.

[Dave Clark]

Apparently,