Insurance costs up 400 per cent, but summer carnival will still roll into Warrnambool

It's a bitter blow to the Warrnambool regulars who have faced two years of COVID-19 restrictions that have decimated the events industry.

But the cost of having fun is skyrocketing with insurance companies charging between 300 and 400 per cent more in the wake of COVID-19.

Trent Woodall said he would still bring the summer carnival rides to Warrnambool on Boxing Day and was hopeful of an even bigger and better summer.

"We're insured and we are coming," he said.

Mr Woodall said they were faced with either not working or wearing the cost of the insurance hike.

"We don't have the choice of not working," he said.

"There's been complications with the insurance. This isn't just us a company, this is the whole industry. The events industry, theme parks everything. Anything that is fun basically.

"They have us in a position where 'it's take it or leave it'. It is cruel."

Mr Woodall said his business, along with the entire events industry, was looking to the Federal Government for support with insurance.

He said skyrocketing insurance costs had hit not just carnivals, shows but also major theme parks and adventure businesses such as zipline.

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Mr Woodall said a similar thing happened to the trucking industry about 20 years ago when insurance companies quadrupled the price of insuring what they saw as the high-risk transportation of petroleum.

"That's basically what they've done to us," he said.

Mr Woodall said they were "part way down the path" of getting a mutual agreement with the government to help.

"That's probably another eight months away."

Mr Woodall said he hoped capacity at the carnival would be higher this year after last year restrictions put a cap on numbers through the gate.

He said 2021 was just as bad as 2020 in terms of the financial hit his business took with border closures and lockdowns preventing them earning an income.

"What are we comparing? Zero versus zero aren't we," he said.

"2020 was horrible but 2021 was almost equally as bad."

He said they were able to do the Royal Easter Show in Sydney with their big rides - the biggest event they have ever done - but then lockdowns returned and borders were slammed shut.

With a revamp of the surf club on the cards, work on new toilets for Pertobe Road ready to start and the kiosk outdoor eating area being extended, Mr Woodall said the area would become a real hub of activity.

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