Premier Peter Gutwein on Friday said a decision to delay the announcement by a week had been reached so there was time to understand how Victoria's recent outbreaks of COVID-19 impacted other states.

He said it would take a miracle for the state's borders to reopen any time within the next three weeks.

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Mr Gutwein said New South Wales had issued 180,000 permits to allow Victorians to cross its border while there had been evidence of cross-border transmission from Victoria to the state and the ACT.

He said Queensland on Friday had opened its borders, marking the first time a state had allowed a mass movement of people from around the country to a single location.

"That will serve to inform our decisions going forward," Mr Gutwein said.

"Limiting people movement limits the spread of the virus," he said.

"I understand that people want to travel.

"I understand people want to see loved ones in other parts of the country."

Public Health director Mark Veitch said the exporting of cases from Victoria to other jurisdictions such as NSW and the ACT was a concern.

"The situation in mainland Australia is changing," Dr Veitch said.

"It was clear earlier this week the prospect of opening the border to Victoria in the short term was very slim.

"Tasmania would be safer to wait three weeks before contemplating opening the borders to mainland states other than Victoria to give us sufficient time to thoroughly assess what is going on in mainland states."

Since Victorians were banned from entering Tasmania at midnight on Wednesday, Mr Gutwein said he was aware of one person who had to be turned around after arriving to the state on the Spirit of Tasmania.

A decision of the National Cabinet on Friday will see returning international travellers pay for their own hotel quarantine.

Mr Gutwein said Tasmania was not in this position.

"We don't have an international airport and we're not quarantining international travellers," he said.

In terms of travellers returning from interstate, Mr Gutwein said forcing arrivals to quarantine in hotels was obviously expensive.

He said the state and federal governments had shared an $8 million cost to house people in government-managed hotels

"In the main, it's Tasmanians coming home to Tasmania, and on that basis, we've been prepared to meet that cost," Mr Gutwein said.

Greens health spokeswoman Rosalie Woodruff said evidence suggested there was the potential for coronavirus clusters to appear in other states through cross-border movements.

She said a delay by a week for a decision to reopen borders was therefore reasonable.

Labor leader Rebecca White said the party respected the public health advice but the announcement would have many left wondering what it would mean for the survival of their business.

"The tourism and hospitality industry will be hardest hit by this decision and the government must work closer with this sector to ensure businesses are supported and can keep people in jobs," she said.

Tourism Industry Council Tasmania chief executive Luke Martin said tourism and hospitality businesses had to contend with uncertainty around JobKeeper as well as uncertainty as to when they could again cater for interstate tourists.

"We thought there was certainty emerging, but rather than talking about recovery, we're talking about survival," he said.

"JobKeeper must be extended to at least tourism-related businesses."

Mr Martin said a targeted hardship grant program from the state government was needed.

"We're confident about the medium-term future but it's about how many businesses we avoid losing in the short term," he said.

Tasmanian Chamber of Commerce chief executive Michael Bailey said the government's decision would result in more job losses and more business closures.

"It's quite clear that even a limited re-opening of borders is now likely to be months away," he said.

"I think it's time the government re-evaluated its strategy for restrictions within Tasmania.

"If we want to give Tasmanian businesses even a fighting chance of being able to survive COVID-19, we need to look at lifting the remaining restrictions that apply locally."

Tasmanian Small Business Council executive officer Robert Mallett said the government needed to relax social distancing rules in light on not opening borders sooner.

"If the borders are shut, the virus isn't here," he said.

"While it's not, we need to do everything we can to support business."

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