April Hbaika turned her dream into reality and opened the Millhouse Cafe in Queanbeyan over two years ago.
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Since then, there has been a time when she had to close the cafe after the government enforced lockdown due to COVID-19.
"It's quieter at this time than when we were in lockdown last year and people were allowed to orders takeaways. I have noticed a downturn in the business. I hope it means that people are doing the right thing. The lockdowns have affected our business and visitors to the area are not coming down anymore," she said.
"Another reason could be the weather and since we are predominantly an outdoor cafe, people prefer not to sit outside in this cold and wet weather."
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April is one of the several local business owners in Queanbeyan-Palerang area that are facing a tough situation at this time of the year.
Travel restrictions and lockdown in several areas including Sydney have impacted the revenue of the businesses in town.
The government implemented these restrictions as a preventive measure to curb the growing number of COVID-19 Delta variant cases daily.
On Tuesday, at least 50 people were infectious in the community among 199 cases detected in the 24 hours to 8pm on Monday evening.
More than 104,000 tests were carried out across the state yesterday and comes the day after a record 117,000 swabs on Sunday.
Meanwhile, John Woodman from the Braidwood Bakery has experienced a decrease of around 15 per cent in the number of visitors as well.
"Our main customers come here from Canberra and New South Wales areas. We are fortunate that the Canberra market is still open. If that closes too, the business will be severely affected," he said
"Another major concern is the closure of Clyde Mountain road for four days a week for a period of 10 weeks by end of this month. It will impact our business a lot more as the majority of our customers are travellers."
