With the state recording no cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours - the first time since June 9 - Premier Daniel Andrews announced late Monday afternoon that the state would be as one once again within two weeks.

The landmark day also meant major changes to Melbourne, where retail and hospitality businesses can finally reopen this week.

But for regional Victoria which has enjoyed these privileges for over a month and never been in Stage Four lockdown, one of the most welcome changes was a planned end to restricted movement between the capital and the regions.

The announcement was music to the ears of Ballarat tourism operators, accommodation providers and the city's regional tourism board who have their fingers crossed for a bounce in tourist activity in the coming weeks.

Quoting The Beatles, Ballarat Regional Tourism Chairman Iain Gunn said "It's been a long and winding road".

"Having our main market open us to be will be like turning a tap on," Mr Gunn said.

"Just last week, I looked at our numbers and it was August 2 when our occupancy rates dropped off. The tap just went dry when Melbourne was locked down again."

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Mr Gunn said he had no reason to believe that Ballarat would not see a tourism boost in coming weeks and months.

"I've given up predicting and trying to forecast a long time ago (how things might turn around), but there must be some incredible pent-up frustration for people in the city to get out and do something," he said.

"We are ready to take people back when they are travelling, we're promoting online, the city must be doing that too.

"Watching the grand final on Saturday night, you saw promotions for the Great Ocean Road, for Adelaide, the City of Ballarat is our custodian and I trust they are putting their marketing dollars to work to get people to come to Ballarat.

"I've got no reason to think we won't have a good bounce in business, whether it's a trickle or flood remains to be seen, I think it will be a strong rebound.

"If you look what's happening in Sydney, they are talking about places like Bathurst, Orange, there is strong demand, that's encouraging as those places are about an hour away from the city, as we are."

Mr Gunn said the whole city benefits from a strong tourism market.

"You know as a citizen of Ballarat when things are on, accommodation is up, attractions are up, retail is up, it seems trite, but everyone benefits," he said.

One look around the Ballarat Wildlife Park and owner Greg Parker knows the business he has put his life into is struggling.

Despite being reopened to regional visitors, the lack of Melbourne tourists and bus tours has taken at least 60 per cent away from his earnings.

But the news that Victoria's 'ring of steel' will be gone by November 8 is the much needed confidence boost he and his staff so desperately needed.

Mr Parker said he hoped a trend he had been told about in Sydney could be repeated in Ballarat.

"I've been speaking to some people up in Sydney who have said that since they've been allowed to open, business is booming," he said. "But then, I've also spoken to people in Port Macquarie about four hours from Sydney who say they are still struggling a bit for numbers.

"It seems that the day trip market is doing well, some are reporting better than pre-COVID figures if you're within a day trip, say an hour or so from the city.

"We've lost an awful lot of money this year, but hopefully there's now an awful lot of money on its way."

Mr Parker added that he hoped the bus tour market could be reinvented to cater for local tourists, given many international visitors won' be visiting Australian shores anytime soon.

"We actually get a lot of bookings for cruise ships, but you can never tell how that will go, sometimes they book for 100 and only 40 turn up," he said.

"I don't think we'll see the bus loads of 65 people coming down, it's amazing what 4-10 bus loads a day like that can do for your business, but I think we'll see a lot of smaller companies, with buses to 15 that will take advantage of being able to come down."

Accommodation providers across Ballarat have been hanging on by the fingernails for this day to arrive.

When the Melbourne market was cut off from the rest of Victoria at the start of August, many feared it would be the final nail in the coffin after a tumultuous six months with and then suddenly without business. But more than three months after the last tourists from the city said goodbye to Ballarat, there's a glimmer of hope for accommodation businesses.

Sovereign Park Motor Inn's Tim Canny said he was thrilled that tourists will be allowed to return from Melbourne as of November 8.

"It's very exciting isn't it? It's great news for our industry, it's long awaited. It's a big breath of fresh air, it's the news we've been waiting for."

Like most businesses across Ballarat, Mr Canny's motor inn has suffered with the lack of tourism in school holidays and the cancellation of the Royal South Street Eisteddfod - just some of the challenges he and others have faced this year.

"We've been running at roughly 10-20 per cent capacity, Melbourne is a huge part of our businesses," he said.

"I'm sure Melburnians are desperate to get out of Melbourne as well and that should mean regions will do very well in the first few months."

Iain Gunn from The Mercure agreed, but added that a percentage of his business relied on functions and conferences which may take a little bit longer to recover.

"We certainly have been looking at about 20-25 per cent capacity," he sad. "It'll certainly be a positive but we do rely a lot on conferencing and events which might be a little longer coming back to us.

"At this stage we're not sure what announcements will be made in the coming period in regards to events."