Tamworth Country Music Festival 2021 cancelled: mayor Col Murray admits worst decision he has had to make in his local government career

While the Golden Guitar Awards will still go ahead as a live-streamed show, the advice from police, health officials and Destination NSW is that the festival could have tragic implications if COVID-19 took hold of the region, Cr Murray told a press pack on Wednesday.

"On the faces of my fellow councillors there was a lot of anguish and heartache in making that decision," he said.

"So for the first time in almost 49 years the council of the day has made that fateful decision.

"If there was one decision I would rather not be a part of in my 16 years of local government, this would be the one."

As the clock ticked on the festival go-ahead, restrictions in NSW have continued to tighten.

So, the decision was made to allow only the Golden Guitar Awards to go ahead without an audience.

There will be no red carpet, no gala dinner, no Toyota Star Maker and no free events in the park.

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It will cost the economy an estimated $50 million, but Cr Murray said regardless of the disappointment for local sports clubs or small businesses who rely on revenue - the health of the community is paramount.

"We are elected to make decisions and quite often those decisions actually have a financial impact, that could be positive or negative, on the members of the very community we represent," he said.

"It was a tough decision to make."

At this stage the council staff who work in tourism and the festival event management team have been deployed to other areas of the organisation.

That has given the council the opportunity to catch up on much-needed strategic planning for future projects, Cr Murray said.