Australian travellers have given the Trump presidency a resounding thumbs down.
Sun 18 Jan 2026 06.00
The White House/Flickr
Australian travellers have given the Trump presidency a resounding thumbs down. While the number of Australians travelling overseas for short trips rose more than 9% over the past year, the number of Australians going to the USA fell 2.3%.
The latest overseas arrivals and departures figures, released Friday by the Bureau of Statistics provides key data on how many people are coming to Australia to work or holiday. It also shows how many Australians are travelling overseas, and where they’re going to.
The Australian tourism industry has struggled to recover since the pandemic lockdowns, and the number of international tourists coming to Australia has not fully recovered. In the 12 months to January 2020 a record 9.5m people visited Australia but, in the 12 months to November 2025, just 8.8m came.
By contrast, Australians have definitely rediscovered their urge to roam.
In the year to November 2025 there were 12.8m Australian departures overseas for holidays or short trips (this might include some doubling up by people doing more than one trip). That number is 10% higher than the 11.7m who travelled overseas in the year to January 2020, just before the lockdowns began.
But there is one nation we are not travelling to in anywhere near the same number: the United States of America.
In the past year Australians visited most of the popular overseas destinations in bigger numbers. There was a 3% increase in the number of Australians going to the UK, a 6% increase in the number going to southern and eastern Europe, a 10% increase in the number going to India, and a stunning 20% and 21% increase in the number going to China and Japan, respectively.
But 17,100 fewer Australians went to the USA in the past year than they did in the year before Trump was elected (up to November 2024):
And the new distaste Australians have with travelling to the USA is not something that applies to North America in total.
In the past year, the number of Australians travelling to Canada has risen 4% to 168,350. If we compare the growth of Australians travelling to the USA and Canada it is clear the USA has been singled out for avoidance:
None of this should really be a shock given the egregious impediments to travelling to the United States and the overall sense of danger being directed toward non-citizens (and now also citizens).
But what may have been anecdotes and vibe is now confirmed by the stats – Australians have taken a look at Trump’s America and said thanks, but I’ll go elsewhere.
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