The Victorian government announced last Sunday it was allocating $143 million to various measures to help traders recover from the snap five-day COVID shutdown.

Murray River Tourism chair Wendy Greiner said she would like to see the same direct business support from the NSW government.

"I have to say the Victorian government, certainly in all areas, have given a lot more support than the NSW government, in terms of financial support to operators," Ms Greiner said.

"So we're pushing our NSW counterpart to step up to the mark, (while) some support has been given...direct local marketing and direct financial support (is needed)."

Ms Greiner noted the NSW government was examining the issue.

Member for Albury Justin Clancy has also said previously he was seeking more aid and pushing the cause with government figures.

Ms Greiner was speaking after the Murray River Tourism board met in Albury on Friday.

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Fallout from the recent lockdown and border shutdown over January was the main focus with the need for improved communication from governments a key point.

"We've got to advocate to try and ensure that governments have a plan," Ms Greiner said.

Despite the Jobkeeper worker subsidy being slated to end next month, Ms Greiner is hopeful those in her sector will still benefit from some assistance in the same vein.

"It may not be called Jobkeeper, (but) we're fairly confident there will be something for the tourism and hospitality industry that will be announced sometime in March," she said.

Despite the emergence of COVID vaccinations in Australia, Ms Greiner still expects this year to be hard for tourism operators with a reluctance from capital city residents to travel far from home.

"If things pick up it will take at least four or five years to perhaps get back to where we would have been in 2019, it's a long road forward but we're quietly optimistic," she said.

"Our operators, some of them sadly will go by the wayside, but a lot of them are seeing some green shoots."

Ms Greiner said as the sector picked up a concern would be finding a workforce with the COVID turmoil having made the tourism and hospitality industry less attractive.

"We need to make it appealing again," she said.

"Some of the TAFEs for example, metropolitan TAFEs haven't had any enrolments in hospitality, it's a diabolical situation to be in."

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