Talbot's COVID-19 fears represents long-term visitor economy challenge

That challenge is balancing the desire to attract tourists for economic benefit and business survival, with the anxiety of many residents living in regional communities who fear the risk of COVID-19 spread.

The Talbot Farmers' Market organising committee made the decision to cancel its Sunday market event during a meeting late on Friday.

The decision was made in response to a record day of COVID-19 cases across the state on Friday and new recommendations from Victoria's Chief Health Officer on Friday for regional Victorians to take increased precautions, including wearing a face mask.

The Sunday market was set to be the first in Talbot since COVID-19 hit in March, but the initial decision to run the event was met by anger and concern from some residents.

Talbot Farmers' Market committee president Fred Davies said the committee had been "battling to present a market that covered all the risks and went above and beyond the requirements", but the decision to cancel was 'unavoidable'.

"It was forced on us by the COVID situation and a lack of support," he said.

Mr Davies said many people had been critical, abusive and had made personal attacks through social media and telephone calls to committee members about the decision to go ahead with the market last week.

He described the hostility as a 'terrorising' social media trolling campaign against the market and the committee.

"We have received abusive calls from people who wouldn't identify themselves," Mr Davies said.

"Everyone is afraid of the virus... but people working for the community have been criticised and abused.

"It is very frustrating the people who are wanting to do something for the community are copping this crap."

Former councillor and president of Talbot Action Inc. Chris Meddows-Taylor said people's fear of COVID-19 had turned into anger and there had been building hostility in the community towards the market.

"The committee has been mindful of that and tried to reassure people with the regulations in place, but unfortunately it has reached a point where reassurances don't work," he said.

"Fear and anger outweighed that."

Mr Meddows-Taylor said many residents had expressed fear at the prospect of people from out of town walking through the streets on market day.

"Some of that fear is not supported but it exists and we have to understand it," he said.

Lockdown restrictions in Melbourne currently prevent people travelling from COVID-19 hotspot areas to the regions, however regional Victorians are still allowed to travel to other regional locations.

Mr Meddows-Taylor said they would continue to explore options to get the market running again, including possibly relocating it out of town.

"So many people want to the support the market and the stallholders are desperate," he said.

"How to proceed in a way the community and everyone is happy with, that is the challenge we have.

"We will take careful stock of how to meet concerns and deliver a quality market in COVID times."

Mr Davies said this would not happen until the number of COVID-19 cases was under control again in regional Victoria.

Mr Meddows-Taylor is also chair of the Goldfields Regional Tourism board.

He said the big challenge in Talbot and more broadly across regional Australia will be balancing the need for tourism providers to attract visitors and the anxiety of the community.

"Tourism providers, whether they be stallholders, accommodation venues, cafes or restaurants, need visitors desperately, but as seen here, the community is very nervous," Mr Meddows-Taylor said.

"How we encourage visitors into areas will take a lot of planning.

"We have seen the communities themselves are very risk averse and very nervous.

"In the end, you want the visitors to have a great experience and come to a welcoming community rather than one that wants them to stay home."

Mr Meddows-Taylor said community engagement would become a big part of tourism planning in the months and years to come.

"What we have to work out is how we handle the community messaging and show it is okay and safe, because you want those people to be welcoming or it can turn out to be a negative experience," he said.

"I think a lot of communication, engagement and messaging with community that we haven't had to do in the past is going to be critical."

Talbot Provedore and Eatery has also had to work on its own balancing act since COVID-19 hit, between restrictions, safety, comfort, staff and customer demand.

The business continued operating with a takeaway model during the pandemic and re-opened for a Saturday night dine in service three weeks ago.

"For us it was a matter of balancing the staff that were required, the correct procedures required to enable us to do that with the customer demand," owner Jayne Newgreen said.

"We feel we have struck a good balance with just doing Saturday nights in house dining and the rest takeaway for now.

"We are aware things might change again in regional Victoria so we are doing what we can now."

Ms Newgreen said she felt supported by residents who appreciated the service, particularly local produce at the store.

She said she felt residents were confident with safety procedures in place, including for customers visiting from other regional areas.

"There has been a lot of noise going on in Talbot but I think at the end of the day the community is quite harmonious on the whole," she said.

"We express our opinions strongly but we understand there are differences. It is not felt as much in real life as it looks to be on social media."

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