Murray River Paddlesteamers managing director Rohan Burgess said as long as all boarding and exiting takes place on the Victorian side of the river, his business could continue to trade.
“I spent most of the day on the phones getting clarification,” he said.
“The intention of the order is not to let people into NSW, so if you're boarding in Victoria, floating on the river, then exiting in Victoria, at this point in time it's okay.
“We are still waiting on further orders, and if they contain more detailed information that causes issues, we will apply for an exemption, but Victorian Tourism Industry Council (VTIC) us lined up to help us with this.”
Mr Burgess said a number of decisions had been made to keep the system as safe as possible.
“We've already excluded the hotspots in line with the state, but we've now excluded NSW customers,” he said.
“They have all been refunded or given them a three year credit so they can come back when the opportunity arises.”
Despite the confusion, Mr Burgess is staying positive.
“You just have to get on with it. We aren't dying, we aren't America (who have the highest number of cases worldwide),” he said.
“It's best to look after the community, and it's something we all do well. When it comes to the crunch, we are all willing to do our bit, that's our culture.
“I have 35 employees, we're all on JobKeeper, we had a good school holidays, all our boats are full this week. Tourism to this town is 80 per cent Victorian anyway. It's not going to be perfect but we are all working and doing business.
“VTIC and Business Victoria have made the whole process easy, it has set us up really well to get through and to keep operating in any way we can.”
Campaspe Shire community general manager Keith Oberin said Echuca Paddlesteamers would continue to operate as normal.
“The closure of the state border will not restrict the operations of Echuca Paddlesteamers.,” he said.
“The paddlesteamers depart from and arrive back to Victoria, without disembarking passengers onto NSW land.
“Echuca Paddlesteamers will continue to operate in line with current COVID regulations, restricting the number of passengers and maintaining social distancing.”