Bendigo hospitality and accommodation services are 'positive but cautious' in a post-JobKeeper era

Australian Hotels Association Victoria executive board member and Hotel Shamrock Bendigo owner Ray Sharawara initially felt lots of fear and uncertainty when the scheme ended in late March.

He said however over the past few months he had been feeling quite the opposite.

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"The last couple of months have been very good, our business has recovered and we are trading better than what we were pre-COVID," he said.

"International travel is non-existent so we are finding Melbourne people are very enthusiastically coming to Bendigo so our accommodation is up a lot and we are getting the benefits of that through the whole business."

Mr Sharawara said one of their biggest challenges he had faced over the past few months had been finding people wanting to work.

"The only difficulty we have had post-JobKeeper finishing up is actually getting staff to work - we are having difficulty finding staff, there seems to be a reluctance," he said.

"We are advertising lots of positions and we have put on something like close to 40 staff since we were able to open full again and we are finding that we need more."

Looking into the future, Mr Sharawara said in a post-JobKeeper era, things will continue to look positive as long as there aren't anymore lockdowns.

He said if there was another lockdown then many businesses would go backwards due to the lack of government support.

"Post-JobKeeper has been good and whilst we thought we would of needed more assistance, we are going good," he said.

"That will only be the case if we don't have anymore lockdowns...if there was another lockdown then there would be no assistance for businesses which would be a disaster."

Bendigo Motel Association president Kristyn Slattery said the past few months although positive had been inconsistent.

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"The last few months have been up and down and we haven't seen any great consistency with travel especially with the business traveller," she said.

With a push to holiday locally, Ms Slattery said the leisure travel market had rebounded quickly.

She said she had seen an increase in stays not only on weekends but weekdays.

"With the announcement of each event that is going ahead, there is more hope and excitement that things are getting back to that pre-COVID normal," she said.

"Each event that is confirmed is very welcomed."

Ms Slaterry she is "positive but cautious" about the future.

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"It's very hard to plan and look forward at the moment, there aren't many people planning in advance when you see snap lockdowns in recent weeks," she said.

"There has definitely been a shift in the past three weeks, we have seen an increase in people moving around particularly in the corporate world this time.

"I want to be positive but it is just inconsistent."

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