Currently, indoor entertainment and arts and culture venues can not open until there have been zero COVID-19 cases in the community for 14 days.

Major events and tourism manager Terry Karamaloudis confirmed council had written to the state government urging the reopening of tourist attractions.

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"We emphasised the importance of the attractions to our visitor economy, and the important role they play in attracting visitors to Bendigo and the region," he said.

"These attractions are prepared to safely welcome visitors back and understand the need to carefully follow the necessary hygiene and contact tracing requirements.

"The visitor economy is very important to Greater Bendigo, 4.8 million visitors to the region last year made a significant contribution to our economy. If we do not have the approval to fully open, then our visitor numbers may decline and we may be disadvantaged economically."

Bendigo Art Gallery director Jessica Bridgfoot said it was a frustrating situation for galleries, cinemas and tourism businesses.

"We feel we have been ignored this time around," she said. "That nuance of opening other areas or regions for tourism but not the cultural attractions seems puzzling.

"If you can go into a food court or restaurant, why not a large facility like a gallery where you don't touch anything and everything is automated? We can open in three days once we get a green light.

"It would be really valuable if (the state government) could open a conversation with cultural tourism sectors. As far as I can tell that conversation hasn't been had. Hopefully, we are next on the list."

When asked at his daily briefing, Premier Daniel Andrews said it isn't time to open indoor venues such as cinemas.

"We will be able to get cinemas open again, it's just a matter of when it is safe," he said.

"No time at movies is worth putting at risk what has been built. There will be a time to do that, it just isn't now. We'll get it open as soon as we can.

"It will be a matter of how (deciding) many people, what duration and distancing (is in place), that's challenging. (Being in) indoor venues for a lengthy period of time (is) more dangerous."

Mr Andrews said he would like to keep restrictions in regional Victoria and metropolitan Melbourne close together going forward.

"It's important to not lose sight that we have made significant changes (in regional Victoria), they are a couple of weeks ahead of Melbourne," he said.

"We don't rule out the notion of going further again but we don't want to have situation where Melbourne and regional Victoria are so far apart that we can't open the border.

"The best thing to do is to see out the next couple of weeks, keep numbers low, bring 25km (Melbourne travel limit) and (regional-metropolitan) border down on November 8. If there is another step to take - like a 3B - we can all take that as the same time."

Ms Bridgfoot said businesses in the tourism sector would ideally open when the "ring of steel" between regional Victoria and Melbourne is lifted.

"Up to 80 per cent of (the gallery's) visitors come from Melbourne," she said. "If we don't have cultural attractions open to attract and sustain visitors, there's not much much point in opening a tourist sense.

"Studies of why people come to Bendigo show the gallery is the number one reason. Along with the Golden Dragon Museum, the Tramways and heritage attractions, there is a whole ecology in Bendigo (thanks to) the way we work with cafes, hospitality and retail. We're all linked."

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Ms Bridgfoot said the gallery had been closed for most of the year.

"It is great what Dan Andrews has done to suppress the virus," she said. "It is admirable and really wonderful to have someone in that position, who is such a force and stuck by the mission.

"(But) we have got huge exhibition that have gone above and beyond to try and deliver (that is) sitting here gathering dust. We want everyone to see it.

"During the the last period of COVID safe opening, we were getting few hundred people through a day under the permitted amount we can have in building.

"This time, to be honest, it could be even busier because Melbourne lockdown was so hard. People are really wanting to experience things in person again.

"It's a shame to look out window and see cafes and shops open and people wandering up to gallery and walking away because it's not open."

Mr Karamaloudis said he was optimistic about Bendigo's ability to recover form the pandemic.

"Bendigo has a strong reputation across the state with lots of compelling reasons to visit," he said.

"The major events sector had experienced significant postponements and reschedules as opposed to cancellations. Forty-nine major events have been postponed but the majority of these have already been rescheduled for next year.

"Greater Bendigo can feel optimistic about the major events sector making a strong recovery. The City has continued to seek out new events during COVID-19 and has many event negotiations taking place.

"We always plan ahead, with or without COVID-19. We have 31 confirmed major events locked in for 2021 and good numbers already booked for 2022."