There are concerns some visitors to the Grampians, in particular Halls Gap, are not following social distancing rules as hordes of tourists return to the popular destination.
Overnight stays are now allowed across Victoria, and accommodation providers and restauranteurs were surprised by the number of people visiting in recent weeks.
"The relaxing of travel back into regional Victoria has caught everyone off guard a bit, including us," Grampians Tourism chief executive Marc Sleeman said.
Northern Grampians Mayor Murray Emmerson said he was concerned people weren't following social distancing rules while visiting Halls Gap.
"It's a real concern — we are very pleased about the amount of visitors, but very concerned about social distancing," he said.
"People have been lining up at some of the businesses and the social distancing has been very poor to say the least."
Brewery turns the tables
Businesses have had to adapt to a new way of working in recent weeks, with one Halls Gap brewery having to completely change its hospitality model.
Paper Scissors Rock Brew Co manager Carlee Vokes said social distancing had posed some problems for the business.
"It's a little weird — we don't normally do table service, and our business model is based on a communal type of seating," she said.
"We have had to change the whole way we operate."
Ms Vokes said the brewery would normally sit up to 20 people on a communal table, but now it could only seat up to six people on one table.
"We do only have small spaces in Halls Gap and with social distancing, I won't be able to get 50 people in this building if those rules are still in place," she said.
She said customers had been following the rules, for the most part.
"I have had to [remind people] a couple of times — sometimes people don't read signs and I have to tell them to wait outside until I can go and seat them," she said.
"We rely on tourism for us to survive and we want people to come, but we want them to be cautious.
"We are a small community with an ageing population here in Halls Gap."
Accommodation booked out
Mr Sleeman said the organisation was working with tourist operators, restaurants and accommodation providers to help them get through the transition period.
"There's a bit of an overlap just with businesses trying to fully integrate all of those measures and making sure that they are safe in a COVID environment," he said.
"We are aware of [social distancing problems] and some businesses are struggling more than others to implement the necessary procedures."
Mr Sleeman doesn't expect tourism in the Grampians to return to pre-pandemic levels until mid-2023, but he said there were signs of some relief for the industry over the coming months.
"Some accommodation providers are booked out until August, and especially some of the larger caravan parks they are seeing some huge numbers," he said.
"If the past couple of weeks are anything to go by, we could be set for a quicker recovery than we expected.
"But it could just be a bubble."
