Lord Howe Island, off the coast of Port Macquarie, is welcoming tourists back — almost eight months after first going into lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Lord Howe Island Tourism Association executive officer Trina Shepherd said the reopening was welcome news for tourist operators.

"A lot of the businesses have been waiting for this. They're very excited that they can start operating again because the island is completely reliant on tourism," Ms Shepherd said.

"They've been closed for almost eight months, which is a very long time when you can't operate your business on any level at all."

Although not able to put an exact figure on the economic impact of COVID-19 closures, Ms Shepherd said tourism brought almost $30 million to the island every year.

"It's not a small amount that's gone missing that's for sure," she said.

Getting ready for the Christmas season:

Ms Shepherd said some staff had already returned to the island ahead of what was typically the island's peak season.

"There had been whispers that we might be opening and so some of the staff are already back and then the other ones will fly in very soon," she said.

"A lot of them have got very faithful staff that they have used. Not all of the people who work on the island change over every year — a lot of them do stay with the different business operators."