As far as government rules go, masks are a thing of the past for all patrons and fully-vaccinated staff, although they will still be required on public transport, planes and at airports.

Check-ins will also be scrapped, except for at hospitals, aged and disability care facilities, gyms, places of worship, funerals or memorial services, personal services, pubs, small bars and registered clubs, nightclubs, strip clubs or indoor music festivals with over 1000 people.

For local businesses the easing of restrictions is a huge bonus, with Courthouse Hotel general manager Keagan Cohen revealing the pub is set to boom like never before, once the rules are lifted.

"For my venue, we haven't actually been open here at the Courthouse without any restrictions, so to finally have everything lifted is a great relief," he said.

"It will be good to see the venue running at its full capacity, we're currently at 300 people at the moment and as soon as that capacity gets lifted we're allowed to have 800 people at our venue.

"So it's good news for business, it's great news for the Country Music Festival because it means people won't be waiting out on the street."

On top of not having to police vaccination status and telling people to put their mask on, staff will also be big winners with all fully-vaccinated workers being able to take the masks off once and for all, if they choose to.

READ ALSO:

Mr Cohen said his workers are free to keep them on if they choose to given unvaccinated patrons will be allowed in, but he suspects many of them will free themselves of the accessory, especially as the weather heats up.

One place it is always hot is in the kitchen, and owner and chef at The Bell House cafe, Colin Knight, said he is very much looking forward to ridding himself of the mask.

"We're stoked at that, I know the guys out the front are keen for it from a convenience point of view," he said.

Not having to confront customers about whether they have been double-vaccinated or not is the thing he is most looking forward to, revealing it had been tough on his young staff since the restriction was brought in.

"I would say in the first two weeks, when it was introduced, we had to turn 40 or 50 people away, but after that people were getting better and it's only been every now and then," he said.

"What we were concerned about to start with was having to police it all and the first two weeks was a concern."

He said the rules have eased just in time as more customers roll in for the holiday season.

Back at the pub, Mr Cohen also said he had noticed more visitors of late, with the venue's capacity being maxed out almost every Friday and Saturday night.

"From 7 till 10pm we've got a band out the back and then from 10 till 2am we've got live music," he said.

"Since coming back to 300 people capacity we've been filling up every weekend, we've been hitting capacity and having line-ups outside."

Individual businesses may still choose to enforce whatever COVID rules they deem necessary for the safety of their staff and customers.

Business NSW regional manager Joe Townsend said the change comes at the perfect time for outlets who had been crying out for the easing of restrictions in order to capitalise on the holiday rush.

"This is the early Christmas present business owners and their employees have been waiting for," he said.

"A recent survey conducted by Business NSW found that 32 per cent of businesses, and 43 per cent of businesses in the visitor economy, stated their biggest challenge was ongoing restrictions related to COVID-19.

"And 49 per cent of businesses wanted to see further relaxation of COVID-safe rules such as mask requirements and square metre restrictions, and 43 per cent saw reopening borders as highest priority, so they have their wish."

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: