GasBuddy: 58% of people intend to travel this summer, despite record high gas prices 

Fuel industry data firm GasBuddy found that 58% of people intended to road-trip this summer. The share represents an increase from last summer, when per-gallon prices were around $1.50 lower than the record $4.593-per-gallon nationwide average Friday.

The share of participants who said high gas prices have factored into their plans is up 24% this year over last, GasBuddy noted, showing that consumer demand is being affected.

In any case, the 58% data point stuck out to Patrick De Haan, who is petroleum analyst for GasBuddy, who said it represents “insatiable” demand going into the holiday weekend. “People aren’t responding to price,” he said.

De Haan emphasized that the current price dynamic and consumer behavior is a basic lesson in “Econ 101.”

“It’s when supply exceeds demand that we’ll start to see prices go down, and guess what — without some major development, supply is not going to suddenly jump up overnight and exceed demand,” he said. “And that’s why this is going to be probably a longer-term issue.”

De Haan and other experts have considered a reduction in demand as the quickest and most accessible way to bring down prices.

The International Energy Agency published a plan in the weeks after the war in Ukraine began, laying out 10 actions nations could take to reduce oil demand and thereby “reduce the price pain.” The list included things such as reducing speed limits and working more frequently from home.

Since the war’s disruption to oil markets, states including Maryland and Georgia have enacted gas tax holidays to reduce the price of fuel, but critics say those measures shored up demand when the market needed the opposite.

“The oil market is desperately in need of demand destruction,” Bloomberg analyst Javier Blas wrote in late March. He said governments instead “should either be encouraging behavioral changes such as using more public transportation or allowing expensive fuel to force consumers to change.”

Maryland’s and Georgia’s tax holidays have since expired.