Currently three motels are listed for sale in the wider Wagga area - the Quality Inn Carriage House, the Best and Western and the Prince of Wales Motel.

Experts have predicted however, that that number will increase as the industry opens up in coming months.

Country Business Brokers' Neville Harvey said sellers are biding their time, but are expected to flock to the market once business picks up.

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"Sellers are a bit worried their figures won't show the true worth of the business at the moment, so they're waiting for a pick up before they list," he said.

Mr Harvey said after a rollercoaster couple of years for tourism on the back of COVID-19 lockdowns, he predicts many will be looking to leave the industry altogether, despite a predicted uptick in business once regional travel reopens.

"I think a lot of owners have gone through the stress of the last 24 months and some people just don't want to go through it again," Mr Harvey said. "They're unsure about the future. Once things pick up and they can get value for their property, they will sell and maybe move onto some other industry or retire."

Tourism Brokers' Graham Matthews is managing the sale of Quality Inn Carriage House which was listed in August and said while sellers might increase in coming months, he has seen a major drop in buyer interest.

"Our office in Sydney normally handles 100 enquiries a day from prospective buyers and at the moment their down to 10 per day," Mr Matthews said. "That's a good indication to how motels are faring."

He said buyers still interested are mainly big brand players who are anticipating a boom once lockdown lifts.

He expects the Carriage House leasehold, which is listed for $995,000, will sell comfortably to a big brand who will install a management system, but said overall enquiry has all but dried up for his business.

He said low business rates and an uncertain future are behind the slow down.

"At the Carriage House they have 30 rooms and at the moment they're getting four customers per day," he said. "The only businesses making it through reasonably ok are ones with essential workers."

Carriage House owners Joel and Alicia Smellie were intending to sell the business before the lockdown came into effect, after more than six years running the business.

Wagga's Big 4 Holiday Park owner Martin Cotterell said it didn't surprise him that accommodation owners are looking at selling.

He described the past few months as the hardest he's ever experienced as a business owner.

"This has absolutely been the toughest period I've ever seen," he said. "It doesn't surprise me at all that places are being listed for sale."

He said he is hanging on for an expected surge in business once regional travel resumes and has no plans to sell. He can however understand why other people are not not willing to stay in the industry.

"For a business person this has been the most difficult time in my life, luckily we've managed to hold out and we will hold out, but I think there are some businesses that are too highly geared or they've just had enough," he said. "It's one or the other."

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