Victoria’s regions will have a lost, not long weekend

Melburnians won’t be able to travel more than 25km from their home on Friday, ending regional hopes for a bumper long weekend.

09/06/2021 Hotel Frangos owner Louise Melotte at outside the historic hotel in Daylesford. Aaron Francis/The Australian

Regional Victorian businesses were set for a bumper June long weekend, but now it’s a lost weekend after the state government refused to allow Melburnians to travel more than 25km from their homes.

The Queens Birthday holiday is usually a “kicker” for businesses in Daylesford – a small tourist town about 90 minutes northwest of Melbourne – and nearby locations including Castlemaine, Trentham and Kyneton, Hotel Frangos owner Louise Melotte said.

“We hoped they might change their minds,” she said. “It’s basically floored our bookings.

“We have gone from being fully booked to filling those holes with regional visitors.”

Ms Melotte,– who has owned the 19th century boutique hotel for five years,– said she wanted to see Melburnians return to the region as fast as possible after bookings went from 90 per cent to 15 per cent over the long weekend.

“It impacts all the small businesses … and small regional towns. We want to open up and we want to do it safely,” she said.

“(Lockdowns) just immobilise the whole economy. It just shuts it down and small businesses can’t afford that.”

Nearby regional areas are set to struggle too.

Bendigo Chamber of Commerce chief Dennis Bice said he could not predict how much revenue might be lost in the city but agreed many regional businesses would suffer without Melbourne visitors this weekend.

“Regional tourism is reliant on metropolitan Melbourne people coming out to the regions. We would be foolish to think this wouldn’t be the end of some businesses,” he said.

Ballarat Chamber of Commerce CEO Jodie Jillett said beds in the city, about 90 minutes west of Melbourne, were “oversubscribed” with long weekend visitors from Melbourne.

“The loss is massive,” she said. “There are also cancellations from regional Victorians as well, just with a lack of confidence from people about whether they would be able to travel or not.”

Acting Premier James Merlino announced on Wednesday that despite only one new locally acquired infection reported, Melburnians must not travel beyond a 25km radius from 11.59pm on Thursday night.

“There will be regional tourism and people moving across the state in regional Victoria but I know that will not make up for the loss of Melburnians travelling to regional Victoria,” he said.

“I understand how difficult this is but we have to follow the public health advice.”

In metropolitan Melbourne, restaurants and bars will be allowed to open from Friday with up to 100 people and a maximum of 50 indoors, but gyms will remain closed after chief health officer Brett Sutton said they were “high risk”.

Genesis Health and Fitness Melton owner Paul Nemer said he was at risk of going broke due to the lockdown and owed about $550,000 in deferred rent and insurance payments from 2020.

“We were expecting to open up after a circuit breaker (lockdown), not three weeks,” he said. “The finance aspect of this ... is worse than the entire three previous lockdowns because there is no JobKeeper or rental assistance.”

In a nod to struggling businesses, Mr Merlino announced another $8m in financial support. Under the business costs assistance program, gyms can be eligible for up to $7000 in relief.

But Mr Nemer, who also owns Coaching Zone and a swim school in Melton, said it would cover only three days of rent.