Hobart retailers are calling on the Tasmanian government to announce when cruise ships will be allowed back into the state.
International cruise ships will be allowed to enter Australia on April 17, following a two-year ban.
But the world's largest cruise association has said cruise ships are unlikely to return until mid-year.
A spokesman for the Cruiselines International Association, Joel Katz, said it would take months for new protocols to be put in place.
"We're still not going to see ships return immediately, we need to finalise the protocols with the states and territories and then the cruise lines need to gear themselves back up and get those ships back to Australia," he said.
"It's more than likely it's still going to be the middle of the year until we see the first ships return."
Tasmanian Small Business Minister Madeleine Ogilvie said the government would talk to all relevant stakeholders before settling on a final date.
Shop owner Frances Pepera said a time frame would be helpful so she could order enough stock and ensure she was prepared for high numbers of tourists.
"I also would like to know the dates so we can start pre-ordering because we have 60 artists in here," she said.
Before the pandemic, cruise tourism contributed $100 million a year to the Tasmanian economy and supported around 400 jobs.
The cruise ship industry was rocked after 28 people died, and more than 700 cases of coronavirus were linked to the Ruby Princess, after thousands of passengers were allowed to disembark the vessel in Sydney in March 2020.
Soon after, around 3,000 cruise ship passengers and staff were barred from disembarking from a cruise ship in Hobart, after the captain decided the risk of people becoming infected with coronavirus was too great, with five cases recorded in Tasmania at the time.
