Just finished a four-week run with a national act across the east coast capitals and a couple of regional dates, so the fuel and trucking number is fresh. Touring logistics in mid-2026 is workable but the margin compression on the road is the worst it has been in fifteen years. Worth a working read.

The diesel pricing through 2025 and into 2026 has been the most consistent operational pressure on touring. The retail diesel number at the bowsers along the Hume and the New England has been bouncing in a tight band but the band is well above where touring budgets were modelled in 2022–2023. The fuel line on a Sydney–Melbourne–Brisbane–Adelaide tour with two trucks and a bus is materially up on what it was three years ago. Most tour budgets I have worked on this year have a fuel line that is between 18% and 24% of the total touring cost. That number was closer to 13–15% in 2022.

The trucking labour market has eased a little from the very tight conditions of 2023 but the experienced touring driver is still hard to find. The owner-operator who has run shows for a decade can pick the gigs. The young driver who is willing to do the long-haul work is harder to find than the touring industry’s economics make comfortable. Some tour managers are extending the lead time on logistics bookings to keep the same driver crew across multiple tours rather than rebuilding the crew each time.

The truck and rental supply has loosened compared to 2022–2023. The post-pandemic truck shortage is over. Renting a refrigerated stage-spec semi-trailer is easier than it was. The rental day-rate has not dropped to match the better supply — the operators have been recovering through pricing.

A few practical operational observations from the four-week run:

The route planning has become tighter. The wide-open tour route that prioritised crew comfort over logistics efficiency does not survive the 2026 fuel number. The tour just finished had a stricter back-haul logic than I would have run two years ago — the truck doing the load-out at one venue is heading directly to the load-in at the next, with no scenic-route detours.

The crew bus accommodation conversation has shifted. The crew has been willing to take more nights on the bus rather than in hotels through this tour cycle because the production has paid better when accommodation was cut. The crew bus operators are running busier and the booking lead time on a good rig is up materially.

The artist transport cost has been the most variable cost line. The artist who insists on flying business class out of every regional date adds tens of thousands across a four-week tour. The artist whose tour manager has negotiated a sensible flight policy keeps the budget intact.

The venue load-in and load-out timing windows are tighter than they used to be. Major venues are running back-to-back bookings more aggressively than they did in 2023. Build days are shorter. The crew that can hit a tight load-in schedule reliably has a real commercial value to the production.

A note on the touring insurance and risk side. Public liability and equipment insurance premiums have been firmer in 2025 and into 2026. The major insurance markets have been recalibrating on event-industry exposure since the run of weather-related cancellations through 2024. The serious touring productions have been working harder on their risk documentation and their venue contracts to keep insurance pricing manageable.

For tour managers building budgets through the back end of 2026, the realistic operating assumptions to use are these:

Diesel at the upper end of the 2023–2025 trading band. Hotel cost above 2023 levels. Crew bus and truck rental day rates 8–15% above 2023. Crew labour above 2023 by a similar band. Artist transport in line with 2024 if the artist cooperates and meaningfully above if not.

The financial honesty in the 2026 touring economics is that the margins are thin on anything below arena scale. The theatre and club touring acts that are getting through the year intact have either tightened the operations or accepted lower production values. The big touring brands are still making the numbers work. The mid-tier is being squeezed harder than it has been in a long time.