Ballarat Regional Tourism deputy chair Alicia Linley said there was an opportunity for other events to take place.

She said it "was definitely worthwhile to be open" this weekend for her business Mitchell Harris Wines.

But she also noted that patrons didn't have many options as - "a lot of places are closed."

Ms Linley said there could be an opportunity to host an event of some sort that would stick in people's minds when they thought of Easter.

"There is an opportunity ripe for the taking in Ballarat," she said.

"The kids' basketball is great, but something for other tourism areas would be good."

Ballarat is traditionally quiet for tourism over the Easter weekend and with four public holidays in a row it can sometimes be a difficult decision for business owners to open.

But some businesses saw plenty of visitors over the past few days including Sovereign Inn.

"We felt we could have sold the place twice over," owner Tim Canny said.

He said plenty of people were visiting friends or family and the Basketball Australia National Under 18 Championships last weekend also helped bring in visitors.

"The Easter weekend is always strong for us," he said.

"Sadly lots of restaurants didn't open or people struggled to get into places, but I understand for operators it can be an expensive weekend to pay staff."

READ MORE: Ballarat Sikh community comes together for Vaisakhi celebration

He said other businesses might have chosen to give their staff a break over the public holidays as shortages have meant everyone has been working really hard.

"This year more than ever we need to give the staff time off."

Shortages continue to effect day to day operations for business owners around town.

Charlie Graham, owner of Bibo Cafe and Restaurant, said they were open over the weekend, but only one of the days were busy.

Because many staff have moved on to other jobs, "Lots of our [current] staff have to re-train or re-skill," he said.

IN OTHER NEWS:

"Which takes time to develop and is at the cost of the owner."

He said sometimes you can't afford to put on another staff member to oversee work when only one person is needed for the job.

You also need patrons to be patient, he said and sometimes they are not.

If you are seeing this message you are a loyal digital subscriber to The Courier, as we made this story available only to subscribers. Thank you very much for your support and allowing us to continue telling Ballarat's story. We appreciate your support of journalism in our great city.