The New Year's Eve order for Victorian tourists to return home has cruelled the NSW Murray towns' biggest food providers.

Barooga IGA manager Veronica Lawrence said trade before the hard closure was up ten-fold and had been "ballistic" since Boxing Day.

On December 30, there was $25,000 to $30,000 was spent in the grocery, this week the daily sum is $4000.

"It's dead in the grass now and that's everywhere," Ms Lawrence said.

"It was the best Christmas we've had in about six years, thank God we got one week's worth."

At the Mulwala, the town's FoodWorks manager Maxine Hill said its income fall would have matched that felt at their Barooga counterpart.

"It's been absolutely devastating from what we had last week to this week, it's very sad," Mrs Hill said.

"We had the queue from one end of the shop to the other at the register last week.

"I've never seen a Christmas like it in three years."

Adding to the frustration, a new $80,000 bakery, juice bar and ice creamery is due to be completed today after tradies have been working around-the-clock to have it ready for the holiday hordes.

"We've got new owners who have taken over this FoodWorks, they've been here nine months, and for this to happen to them it's really heartbreaking," Mrs Hill said.

Barooga and Mulwala are both smaller than their Victorian twin towns, Cobram and Yarrawonga, and don't have the permanent population to offset the influx of Melbourne visitor spending at this time of year.

Barooga General Store owner Ashok Tati said fuel sales had gone from 8000 litres a day last week to 2000, with out-of-town boat owners a huge income source.

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"(Overall) we were doing around $15,000 a day, now we're doing $6000 to $7000," Mr Tati said.

Mulwala Progress Association president Rob Purtle said the hard closure had "devastated" and "gutted" his town which has scores of motel rooms, holiday units and caravan park sites and cabins.

He said if the border did not reopen soon to greater Victoria "it's going to kill the town".

Mulwala Resort owner Laurie Clark has spent $150,000 in the past year, amid having to close for COVID, upgrading his 14 units with new bathrooms, beds and televisions.

"From what our turnover is now we'll lose $50,000 in that six weeks (of summer)," Mr Clark said.

"It's the time of the year when we make most of our money."

In a win for Mr Clark, whose motel has been empty since last week's exodus, Victorian police on checkpoint duty at Yarrawonga are taking up eight rooms.

Nearby motelier Josh Hughes, who runs the Capricorn Motor Inn, secured some police accommodation for Mulwala after being told officers were staying an hour away in Shepparton and commuting because there were no places to bed down in Yarrawonga.

The police have been occupying 15 of his 20 units at the Capricorn.

Mr Hughes said he had approached the police hierarchy in Melbourne before speaking to officers at the checkpoint on Saturday and successfully attracting their business.

Mr Purtle and the moteliers support a proposal for a permit to allow Melburnians to holiday inside the NSW border bubble.

However, Mr Clark thinks some travellers might be "gun shy", concerned the Victorian government may act again without great notice.

"You will get ones that think it's not worth the risk," Mr Clark said.