Batemans Bay Chamber of Commerce spokesman Geoff Hatton says around 70,000 people are expected to have visited the Eurobodalla coast by the end of January, most of them from Canberra and Sydney.

"Talking to businesses that have been here for 15, 20 years, this is the busiest they've seen it," he said.

"People are tending to stay longer and that's something that, from a business point of view, we're really working on.

"I know the Tourism Board has been working on that too, getting repeat visits from people and having them stay longer as well."

John Haslem, from Ray White Real Estate in Batemans Bay, says the influx of visitors is a welcome relief after a slow winter.

"We did have quite a bad winter in terms of economic strength for those businesses that rely on retailing and visitors," he said.

"It's a survival thing - if we don't have a good summer, people do go to the wall - so it is enormously helpful to local business people if we get a flood of people down."

Businesses say they take about a third of their annual turnover over the two peak summer months.

Andrew Zeems, from Batemans Bay's Coachhouse Marina Resort, says the area's economy would flounder without tourists from Canberra.

"It's our bread and butter really and I don't think anyone in Batemans Bay would say it wouldn't be," he said.

"The Canberra dollar is worth a lot to us. Eurobodalla is Canberra's beach and we like to keep it that way. We will do whatever we can to keep the Canberrans happy."

Eurobodalla Coast Tourism spokesman John Pugsley says visitors seem to be looking for a simpler holiday experience.

"I think people are rediscovering the sorts of experiences they can have down here - fishing and kayaking and walking and cycling and so forth," he said.

"But I also think people are taking short-term holidays and wanting short, quick holidays not too far away from their homes. I think that's what we have, especially for the Canberran people and also people coming from Sydney."