Federation University Associate Professor Elisa Zentveld presented on the topic as part of a Victoria University of Wellington webinar last week, to more than 700 people who tuned in from around the world.

Associate Professor Zentveld said tourism organisations and operators would be forced to think in a different way and change their marketing focus while restrictions remained in place.

"Visiting friends and relatives will certainly be a key market to move early," she said.

"It has always been a very strong market for Ballarat. It represents over half its domestic visitor movement."

Early research shows more than half of Australians are already starting to plan some sort of holiday and those people are focused on domestic travel.

The research also shows people want to be able to drive to coastal, country or regional locations, rather than cities.

Associate Professor Zentveld said Ballarat would be well placed to capitalise on visiting friends and relatives as a tourism market in the coming months.

"Certainly people have felt very aware of isolation from family. They have missed that connection," she said.

"The thing research has also shown is people are particularly concerned with hygiene. Visiting friends and relatives might help people to feel a sense of control in those areas where they are a bit more nervous.

"It is a market that often gets forgotten and people don't think to capitalise on it, but for those operators that want to start thinking in a different way, that is going to be an early market to move."

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Associate Professor Zentveld said Ballarat would also benefit from its low numbers of COVID-19 cases, creating a view among potential visitors it was a safe place to be.

She said while some regional communities may be concerned about the health risks associated with increased visitor numbers, visiting friends and relatives were often viewed as an extension of the community, as opposed to tourists who can often be viewed as 'invaders'.

"There is much more acceptance of visitor movement when there is a local connection. So it is an appropriate market from many perspectives."

Associate Professor Zentveld said it was important for operators to realise a significant proportion of visiting friends and relatives stayed in commercial accommodation rather than with their friends or family.

"Those normal percentages may be different in the early stages post lockdown, but certainly it does benefit all operators, including commercial accommodation," she said.

"People do dine out and of course it is a larger travel party because you are looking at the people who are visiting, connecting with the travel party that is the host group.

"If they are dining out, whether that be eating out or getting a meal takeaway to save the effort of cooking, that is a significant opportunity. They also engage in tourist activities.

"For businesses who are able to be open in the early stages post lockdown, there is no reason why they can't be offering a marketing campaign targeting visiting friends and relatives and the local who is hosting them."

The current COVID-19 restrictions in Victoria will be reviewed on May 31.

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