Fewer Aussies are travelling to the US amid dollar drop, border controls

New figures show fewer Aussies are travelling to the US amid a weakened Aussie dollar and reports of increased US border security, but there might be some good news on the horizon for Aussie holiday-makers.

Travel to the US has been fraught with obstacles lately, from visitors being rejected at the border to mobile phone searches and the low Aussie dollar making a US trip more expensive.

But according to one expert, fewer travellers might mean airlines are about to make their flights a whole lot cheaper to the US.

Seven per cent fewer Australians visited the US in March 2025 compared to the same period the previous year, according to the US International Trade Administration.

This drop is "significant", according to Griffith University's professor of practice at the Griffith Institute for Tourism, Daniel Gschwind.

And it's not just Aussies who are travelling to the US in smaller numbers. Tourists from all over the world were down almost 12 per cent for the month.

"I'm sure the tourism industry in the US would be somewhat alarmed by these trends that we see," Professor Gschwind told Explore.

Professor Gschwind said Australians were troubled about the "apparently less welcoming attitude" of the new US administration under President Donald Trump.

"We know that for international travellers in particular, the perception of safety and health are absolutely dominant in terms of visitor choices," he said.

"So at the back of everyone's mind is always, am I safe and will I be welcome ... and although these instances of border problems may be rare, they nevertheless play on the minds of visitors."

Professor in transport and supply chain management at The University of Sydney, Rico Merkert, said with the cost of living and the low value of the Aussie dollar compared to the US dollar, the US had become too expensive for some families.

"There's a cost-of-living crisis, things are getting more expensive, generally people save more, spend less, so it's probably some impact on tourism as well," Professor Merkert said.

But in good news for travellers, if travel to the US falls further, airlines might host big sales to boost ticket sales, he said.

"If airlines start to realise people are no longer flying as frequently to the US as before and you still have that capacity, they will likely decrease their fares," he said.

Flight Centre said US bookings were down slightly in the first quarter of 2025 compared to the same period in 2024, but the US was still one of the organisation's "most popular international destinations".

Global managing director, Andrew Stark, said airline capacity between Australia and the US has increased significantly since the end of 2024 and added competition generally leads to lower airfares.

"For most Aussies travel is a non-negotiable and while it's not uncommon to see world events impact some destinations in the short term, what we tend to see is that demand bounces back over time," he said.

Western Sydney University professor of Sustainable Tourism and Heritage, Joseph Cheer, said he thought the low Aussie dollar was more of a deterrent to Aussies than border controls which seemed "more arbitrary than systematic".

"I don't think Australians have anything to fear in terms of going to the US because amongst all of the passports that people hold around the globe, I think Australians are probably going to be the least disadvantaged when going to the US because of our strong relationships, because of the [positive] way the US government views Australians."