Olde Horsham Motor Inn owner Melinda O'Dowd said any initiative that drives people out to Horsham is welcome.

She said the snap five-day lockdown hurt, describing it as "taking the wind out of the sails" of her business.

"We basically spent the day of the announcement taking phone calls from people who were canceling," she said.

"We also the received notifications from people who had booked for the coming weekend who were canceling because they didn't know what was going to happen further on down the track."

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Mrs O'Dowd said she was waiting to see how business next weekend would turn out.

She said bookings had yet to pick back up and suspects people are still cautious about planning due to uncertainty around restrictions.

"I think the hospitality sector, including tourism and accommodation, is probably one of the worst affected," she said.

"Because you are reliant on the movement of people. Whereas a lot of businesses can work from home, you can't have virtual guests at your hotel; you can't have virtual diners at your restaurant.

"For the tourism and accommodation sector, free movement of people is vital."

Town House Motor Inn owner Jacky said she welcomes the much-needed support package for businesses, including a new round for the regional travel voucher scheme.

"The vouchers are a fabulous idea to encourage people to spend money in regional areas. They are just a great idea," she said.

"If it brings people out and about, then that is really good."

She said the support comes when Wimmera's accommodation industry is looking for all the help they can get.

"The vouchers are a great idea and accommodation businesses have suffered quite a bit. We are all just doing our bit to survive," she said.

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Both business owners have applied for support under the state government's relief package.

Mrs O'Dowd has used the JobKeeper program throughout the past twelve months and is worried her industry and others similar will be left behind when JobKeeper expires in March.

"I think the general feeling in the business sector is that there are certain businesses that have been hit harder by it is true," she said.

"Come to the end of March when JobKeeper is due to disappear, there are some sectors, including ours which will still struggle for a long time."

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