Sapphire Coast Tourism has started to reach out to communities in the ACT, regional NSW and the border bubble in an effort to draw tourists back into the area after the mass exodus by Victorians on New Year's Eve.
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While people are conscious of the health concerns around COVID-19, there remains a lot of anger and frustration around communications by Victorian government officials.
Victorians were instructed to return from all parts of NSW with no mention of the border bubble arrangements.
Anthony Osborne who manages Sapphire Coast Tourism said there was a "significant number of visitors" from the border bubble area who could have stayed had the messaging been clearer. The bubble includes local government areas either side of the border.
He said it was "pretty devastating to see tens of millions of dollars disappearing" even though people could still travel within the bubble.
"It seemed like absolute chaos to shunt people home on New Year's Eve but now we've got a job to do to fill those vacancies," he said.
"We're seeing some new bookings but we're also seeing some cancellations longer term because people are unsure."
Mr Osborne said that while they were going to market now to encourage people to fill those rooms, there was a need to be cautious with respect to Greater Sydney.
He urged governments to consider local conditions and local economies when they made decisions.
"I would put a cry out to government to dig a little deeper and get into the attributes of the individual regions," he said.
The South Coast includes Wollongong to the border but Mr Osborne said Wollongong has less than 5 per cent of Victorian visitors while the Bega Valley has more than 80 per cent.
"We've seen through the bushfires and COVID that both governments are not across the economic detail of the Victorians to our market. The border bubble makes sense but it wasn't used," he said.
Mr Osborne is not alone in calling for governments to get a better handle on the economies of their regional areas.
President of the Merimbula Chamber Nigel Ayling said that while it hasn't had the same level of impact as last year when the town emptied due to the bushfires, it was the second year in a row, at peak time, and had a compound impact.
"I'm not sure it was very well thought out or the consequences considered," Mr Ayling said.
Mr Ayling also pointed to the importance of the Victorians to the local economy.
"I think the one thing we need to make understood is the impact on the Far South Coast. With the bushfires and COVID there has been a far greater economic impact than in some other regions. This area is so heavily reliant on the Victorians for its economy.
"The reality is the impact is significant but it also had an impact on Victorians."
He said there were "horrendous stories" about the queues and hours spent on the road travelling overnight.
With the close contacts between Bega Valley and Victorians, many in the Valley spent an anxious night as they worried over the safety of loved ones who had to return to Victoria by midnight or face the prospect of quarantining for 14 days.
There were concerns for those who had only arrived on December 31 having driven for seven or eight hours were then having to turn around and drive back through the night.
Lynne McColl regional president of Business NSW (Capital, South Coast and Snowy Mountains) said governments should be aware of the impact of border communities and called the action "heavy handed".
She said border towns had been hit the hardest and it was a subject that would be discussed at the next state level chamber meeting.
