While residents and other business owners in regional Victoria welcomed news the COVID-19 lockdown would only apply to Melbourne, Steve Moore was hit with a startling realisation.

"I would be making more money out of government grants than what I am being open," Mr Moore said.

He said the majority of his guests came to the seaside town from Melbourne.

"It's great for other businesses, who can open and local people can go in and support them, but we're still losing out," Mr Moore said.

He said 2021 had been a worse year than 2020, with people reluctant to travel.

"I could walk away right now, but I can't - how could you sell a business during this pandemic?"

Mr Moore said he still had bills to pay and staff to support.

"I'm still supporting my staff because I love my staff and I don't want to lose them," he said.

Mr Moore said he hoped to be busy during the September school holidays.

But he has very few bookings at the moment, due to uncertainty over travel restrictions.

Mr Moore said accommodation providers were increasingly having to rely on obtaining last-minute bookings.

"People are leaving it to the last minute because they don't know what's going to happen," he said.

Great Ocean Road Regional Tourism general manager Liz Price said the tourism industry had been hit the hardest by the latest lockdown.

"After previous lockdowns, there has been a bit of a spike," Ms Price said.

"However it's the middle of winter and it's a school term - there has been no spike."

Ms Price said the industry could not begin to recover without visitors from Melbourne.

"Without Melbourne we can't recover because it's our core market," she said.

"To get full recovery we need all markets working but our bread and butter is Melbourne."

Ms Price said the loss of international visitors and a sharp decline in interstate visitors had already hit hard.

She said the industry needed support in the form of a wage subsidy.

Member for South West Coast Roma Britnell called for action."During the extended lockdown last year and when Melbourne people were restricted from visiting regional areas a fund was in place to help businesses keep their heads above water - with Melbourne's lockdown being extended for another two weeks, that support fund needs to be reinstated now," Ms Britnell said.

"Many of our local tourism businesses are reliant on visitors coming from Melbourne.

"Tourism businesses still have bills to pay, but with significantly reduced bookings, many are on their knees and need some support."

Ms Britnell said grants had been made available to Alpine resorts during the last lockdowns and there was previously a regional tourism support fund.

"Through no fault of their own these, and many other businesses, are struggling to stay afloat and the Andrews Labor Government needs to announce a targeted support package as soon as possible."

Victoria Tourism Industry Council chief executive Felicia Mariani said regional operators were being negatively impacted by the Melbourne lockdown. "While regional Victoria is no longer officially in lockdown, they're still feeling the pain of diminished custom," she said.