Central Victorian accommodation businesses are shattered after the state government told Melburnians planning to escape the city on the Queen's Birthday long weekend that travel is off the cards.
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It comes as metropolitan Melbourne remains in a circuit-breaker lockdown until at least June 10.
Bendigo's Golden Nugget Tourist Park manager Travis Johnston said the ban left many central Victorian accommodation services completely devastated.
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"Regional Victorians are not going to travel as much as people from Melbourne and especially leading into the Queen's Birthday weekend," he said.
"It has cost us a lot of money, all of the cabins that were booked have all cancelled for the long weekend. Just like that we have lost over 40 bookings."
Several events such as the Daybreak Music Festival and the Castlemaine Jazz Festival have been cancelled due to future uncertainty and the travel ban.
On Thursday, the Heathcote On Show volunteer committee made the heartbreaking decision to cancel its June long weekend food and wine festival for the second year in a row.
Bendigo Motel Association president and Julie-Anna Inn owner Kristyn Slattery said the cancellation of more events took its toll on future bookings.
She said a booking an hour was being cancelled.
"We have just seen more cancellations and now we are going into a frighteningly quiet weekend," she said.
"It's extremely devastating as we were getting close to full capacity for the long weekend."
Ms Slattery said it was tough with no JobKeeper and a lack of government assistance.
"Having no JobKeeper is physically, mentally and emotionally draining," she said.
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"We only just got back to having our full team of housekeeping staff and they are all casual, so that's a major concern for us.
"We don't have work for them, it will take a while for us to get bookings up again so they are out in the cold now, and will they be able to hold on until we are busy enough or would we have to look for staff again?"
Ms Slattery urged anyone booking a trip away to book directly with providers.
She said it was the the best way to support businesses in rebuilding.
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