Bendigo's Golden Dragon Museum monitors coronavirus impact on visitor numbers

It comes after the federal government announced it would deny entry to anyone who had come from or travelled through mainland China.

Only Australia citizens, permanent residents, immediate family, or air crews who have been using appropriate protective equipment are exempt from the ban.

There have been concerns the ban would affect the Australian tourism sector, with Ballarat's Sovereign Hill already projecting cancellations of up to 70 per cent from Chinese visitors over the coming months.

But Golden Dragon Museum chief executive Hugo Leschen said the museum was yet to notice an impact to its visitor numbers.

"The museum is monitoring the situation," Mr Leschen said. "We are monitoring the health warnings and we will follow that to the letter that they are issued."

There have been 12 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Australia since the outbreak started in January. Two of those cases have been in Victoria.

Read more: Former Bendigo resident describes life during coronavirus outbreak

Internationally, more than 17,000 people have been diagnosed with the virus, with more than 360 reported deaths.

But Golden Dragon Museum chair Doug Lougoon said although events like the Easter Fair were a major draw card for the region, most of the visitors who come to Bendigo were from parts of Australia.

"Obviously last year we had a huge celebration at Easter with the new dragon, Dai Gum Loong," Mr Lougoon said. "We will have another big celebration this year for the 150th anniversary.

"The vast majority of our Easter visitation is from within the state and interstate. Although we do get overseas visitors, in terms of proportion, it's not going to affect us too much."

The outbreak of novel coronavirus started in the Chinese city of Wuhan in the Hubei Province. Since the outbreak, a number of racist incidents have been reported in the UK, France, and Canada.

The Australasian College for Emergency Medicine also issued a statement about instances of racial profiling because of the coronavirus.

"It is incredibly distressing to see that a health emergency like this can deteriorate into a situation where some choose to promote racism and xenophobia," ACEM past president Dr Simon Judkins said.

"Unfortunately, our members are reporting an increase in instances of racism within EDs, with patients and staff of Chinese appearance being subject to racist abuse.

Read more: Bendigo: what would happen if coronavirus spread to the city

"We are aware that in some of our hospitals staff have needed to be issued with 'scripts' to manage incidents of racism within EDs."

Mr Leschen said those at the Golden Dragon Museum have not witnessed racism as a result of the coronavirus.

"Of course racism is dreadful at any time and in any form," he said.

"The Golden Dragon Museum is fundamentally about sharing stories - primarily about the Gold Rush, but also other stories of Chinese migrants in Bendigo.

"We're about building bridges and informing people through stories. We would actively discourage any sort of behaviour like that at any time, but particularly now."

Mr Lougoon said the museum would continue to push for unity in the community, especially when people were being racially profiled.

"The early Chinese in Bendigo suffered various forms of racism and discrimination," he said.

"For racism to come on the back of an illness that is very unfortunate for a significant number of people is a fairly despicable sort of notion.

"From our point of view, this is something that we would be firm in decrying."

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