STRICT North Stradbroke Island travel restrictions have begun to ease but its first day open to visitors has reportedly seen only a trickle of tourists.
Island streets and beaches were quiet on Saturday morning.
Ferries brought bigger crowds around mid-morning but a Stradbroke Flyer spokesman said passenger numbers were still only a fraction of what they usually were.
The water taxi has been operating on a restricted timetable since the island was shut down to tourists in March.
"We haven't been making fuel money, forget about wages and all the other things," a spokesman said.
He said most visitors so far had been homeowners eager to check their properties.
"There's been a few tourists and some surfers but most have been ratepayers that haven't been able to access their houses," he said.
A Point Lookout homeowner, who asked not to be named, said she had not been able to access her house in 10 weeks and was worried about the condition it would be in.
"We feel a bit disenfranchised.
"We would have liked the chance for property owners to come earlier. With a lot of these beach homes, you can't leave them alone for too long.
"We've had tradies going over to the house but I couldn't even get there."
She was also worried about small businesses, with a friend's fish shop doing about two per cent of its usual trade.
On Saturday, most shops were closed on Mooloomba Street, a major Point Lookout thoroughfare, with some having been unable to open at short notice.
The owner of an island produce store said her store had not been hit as hard due to its local-focused business model but COVID-19 had showed how fragile the island's tourism-based economy could be.
She said she had tried to focus on the future.
"I've got two extra staff on now. Lots of people laugh at our business concept, telling us we're putting people on when we should be putting them off. But you've got to look at the big picture.
"There were a lot of people who were worried about going out in public (so) one of our responses was doing home deliveries, taking phone orders."
Island residents had looked to businesses as a place of reassurance, a store employee said.
"We had quite a few international people who were stuck here who didn't know a single person on this island and we're trying to make them feel more comfortable," she said.
"At times I felt I was quickly downloading a diploma in counselling."
The store owner said the lockdown had brought island residents closer together.
"We've had bushfires come through the community, we've had all sorts, so if you adopt the same model of sticking together, supporting each other, you feel like you can face anything," she said.
Some island businesses are planning to reopen for the June school holidays.
The Stradbroke Flyer spokesman said timetables would not return to normal until numbers grew.
"June/July school holidays we're hoping people will get out because they dipped out on the April holidays, but it is winter. Maybe by September we might be kicking."
