Headway made in regional hospitality

SA Premier and Tourism Minister Steven Marshall was pleased at the large number of people who had visited rural areas following the lifting of intrastate travel restrictions, particularly across the long weekend.

"I want to say a massive thank you to the people of SA who took advantage of the three-day break to get away for the long weekend," he said.

However Australian Hotels Association SA general manager Ian Horne said while the lifting of some restrictions - a maximum of 80 people are allowed in a venue, with up to 20 people per room - was a "major step forward" for hospitality businesses, operating at a reduced capacity was causing headaches.

"You can have a maximum of 20 people in an area only after you've done the measurement of what the available area is in square metres, because you're still only allowed one person per 4sqm," he said.

"So to legally get 20 people in an area, you have to have 80sqm available, and for a lot of small operators, that's a big area."

Mr Horne said while the majority of hotels had reopened, many were only able to do so because of the JobKeeper Payment scheme, with the future of JobKeeper a likely challenge for the federal government.

"If you pull the rug at the end of September, you're going to have a whole range of small to medium venues, particularly in regional areas, who won't have returned to pre-COVID-19 circumstances by then," he said.

Mr Horne said despite the plentiful publicity about COVID-19 and social distancing, many customers were still not understanding number restrictions, leaving them feeling frustrated.

Macclesfield Hotel licensee Justin York was pleased to be able to reopen the doors to seated patrons, but said the rule of one person/4sqm was "a joke" - particularly when people travelling together did not have to remain apart from each other.

"For people who come here in the same car, they sit at the same table, yet as soon as they walk in the bar, they need 4sqm, it doesn't make any sense," he said.

When COVID-19 restrictions were introduced in late March, the Macclesfield Hotel lost 70 per cent to 80pc of revenue, and while they kept going with takeaway orders while the doors were closed the the general public, Mr York said alcohol consumption was the key to making profits.

"We run tight margins on our food to ensure quality and value for money for our customers, so they keep coming back, but we really need people in here drinking, as that's where we make our money," he said.

"Restrictions don't allow our customers to hang around the bar.

"We are maybe back at about 50pc of normal trade, but the majority of that is food so the profit percentage is so much less - the bank account has not changed at all."

At Stansbury, Dalrymple Hotel owner Rob Rankine said spreading people across multiple areas, while still maintaining strict hygiene and cleaning practices, was an issue at his pub, and likely for many others as well.

"I'm staffing an area of nearly 100sqm in my front bar, with toilets, two entrances, with 20 people at maximum, and every time someone walks in, we have to clean the door handle," he said.

Having operated a well-supported takeaway delivery service while the doors were shut, Mr Rankine said support for the pub since reopening to seated patrons had been "good, but not great".

"There is still a feeling that people are going to come back to the pubs when everything is back to normal, a lot of people can't cope with pubs being half-normal," he said.

He urged people to get behind their local pubs and businesses.

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While wineries have been forced to move away from traditional wine tastings at the bar, Kimbolton Wines co-owner Nicole Clark, Langhorne Creek, said support across the long weekend had been "manic", with 200 people through the cellar door across the three days, compared to 100 people for the same period last year.

Adhering to the rule of one person/4sqm, Ms Clark can have up to 10 people sitting inside, and she hoped that further lifting of restrictions focused on reducing social distancing requirements, as opposed to lifting overall maximum capacity limits.

"What I find most frustrating is I can have a group of 10 people in, who can all be almost on top of each other because they'e all travelling together, but then I can't have anyone else in that space, even though I could fit two more groups in, with the three groups all being 5m from each other," she said.

Pikes Wines cellar door manager Damian Smith said it had been a "very busy weekend" for the Sevenhill winery, and was hopeful good customer numbers would continue.

"We look at things like bookings at our restaurant here, and it's booked out in a few weeks' time, so while it was a hell of a burst for the weekend, I don't think it was a flash in the pan," he said.

"And then we start looking at interstate tourism potentially opening back up again, you'd like to think SA is in a good position, because the lack of COVID-19 cases would mean our state would be an attractive place to visit."

Cafes have also reaped the benefits of being able to open back up to seated diners, with Henry&Rose at Keith reporting a large number of people dropping in on their way to and from the South East.

Assistant manager Jodi Buddle was pleased the cafe was once again getting busier, and while she supported restrictions easing further, she hoped people remained vigilant.

"I just don't want people to get complacent, but if people do the right thing, it would be awesome if restrictions could ease again," she said.