The dollar reached a five-and-half year low of US79c yesterday.

Seven months ago the dollar was trading at US95c.

However Bendigo travel agents said  the sliding dollar had not discouraged residents from booking overseas trips.

Travelaction owner Ryan Pedrotti said the dollar was still high in comparison with previous years.

"Although the dollar has dropped in recent times, if you look at it over the past 10 years, the dollar has improved," he said.

"We have clients who have been to America when the dollar was at US60c," he said.

International travel was still affordable in comparison with domestic trips, he said.

"The bigger picture of it is that the cost of international airfares has gone down significantly," he said.

"What would have cost you $2000 a few years ago might only cost $1300 now."

Most travellers would only notice the difference on incidentals such as food and drink while in country, he said.

Southern Cross Travel manager Kirsty Kalms said clients were as hungry as ever for international travel.  

"People are going to travel when they're going to travel, regardless of the dollar," she said.

"(A good exchange rate) is just a bonus." 

She said business had been booming over the past few years.

"When the stock exchange crashed that did scare people off a bit but when the dollar went back up that got people going back again," she said.

Keech Australia chief executive officer Herbert Hermens said the falling dollar made Australian manufacturing more competitive. 

Headquartered in Bendigo, Keech manufactures steel products for export and domestic markets. 

"It does improve our opportunities to export and makes our factory more competitive," Mr Hermens said.

"It will put the company in a better position to export products."

Mr Hermens said the slide was a correction of where the dollar should be.

"We think the dollar heading back to the mid 70s does better reflect its value," he said.

"It's stabilising our position back to where we were four or five years ago."

He said in order to stay competitive against other nations with comparatively low labour costs, Australian manufacturers needed to focus on producing high quality products as efficiently as possible.

Keech had focused on upskilling its workers to achieve this, Mr Hermens said.

"We have MBAs and doctorates because we understand that it is about advanced manufacturing," he said.