Already, one prominent hospitality venue, The George Hotel, has been forced to close its doors for a week due to low staff numbers, and other businesses are on the brink of the same fate.

READ ALSO: New cases under 100 for Bathurst, big drop in cases admitted to health district hospitals

Ash Lyons, who owns both the Oxford Hotel and Venue café, said his businesses barely have enough staff available to stay open, creating an "excruciatingly difficult" situation.

"Sometimes we're one staff member away from shutting down," he said.

"We're lucky that we haven't had to shut so far, but it's been a knife edge. Every day presents new challenges."

The only thing he thinks will alleviate some of the pressure is if the NSW Government was to introduce the same initiative for hospitality staff as it has for food distribution workers.

Critical workers in the food and logistics and manufacturing sectors who have been identified as close contacts are allowed to leave self-isolation if they have tested negative on a rapid antigen test (RAT) and are asymptomatic.

They can return to work, but must wear a mask and undertake daily RATs.

READ MORE: Isolation rules change for healthcare, food logistics and manufacturing workers

"We in the hospitality industry consider ourselves food handlers and we provide an essential service," Mr Lyons said.

"Seventy per cent of our staff that we've lost tested positive and 30 per cent are deemed to be close contacts.

"... If we could pick up the same policy that food carriers and food handlers have picked up as an essential service, that would definitely help us, not a lot, but a little bit."

Mr Lyons said that other hospitality businesses in Bathurst would be facing similar circumstances.

Last week, The George Hotel moved to providing dinner service alone, but on January 9 announced it would have to close altogether from the 10th to the 16th.

"The escalating COVID climate and staffing insufficiencies have forced us to make this difficult decision," the hotel said on its Facebook page.

Mr Lyons said that he was fortunate to have a big pool of staff, which he can move between his Bathurst and Orange businesses to fill gaps, however businesses with fewer employees are at greater risk as the Omicron variant spreads.

"I think the smaller you are, the harder it is," he said.

"... A business that has 10 staff, if they lose three of those staff or four of those staff, that's 40 per cent of their workforce gone. They can't operate."

In addition to having staff out of action, customers are also staying home because they have contracted or been exposed to COVID-19, or are afraid of getting sick.

It has made for a tough festive season, which hospitality venues had been relying on to bounce back after last year's lockdown.

While the situation is dire, Mr Lyons is trying to keep a positive mindset, hoping that having so many staff contract COVID now means that the workforce will be stronger once they have recovered.

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