Wagga businesses anticipating NSW Dine and Discover voucher rollout

The NSW government is set to trial the Dine and Discover vouchers in a small list of local government areas through February, with a statewide rollout tentatively planned for March.

Every NSW resident over 18 years of age will be entitled to four $25 vouchers, two of which can be spent on dining and two on recreation and entertainment.

Eligible businesses can sign up for the program now to allow locals to bring their vouchers in later in the year.

The industries that will be able to participate include cafes, restaurants and pubs, arts and entertainment venues, recreational activities, travel agents and tours but not accommodation or alcohol.

Forum 6 Cinemas Wagga manager Craig Lucas, based in NSW's Riverina, said he had already signed up for the program, which would come at the perfect time after a year of shutdowns and delayed movie releases.

"Entertainment has been atrocious ... we're up there with the travel industry," he said.

"I think it'll be a good incentive for people to come along and use it for entertainment."

Mr Lucas said he hoped setting aside two of the vouchers specifically for recreation and entertainment would attract more people to his business, and the cinema would likely set up deals catered to people bringing their vouchers in.

With the content "logjam" of 2020 beginning to clear as filmmakers find ways to finish their movies in a COVID world, Mr Lucas said there would be plenty of reasons to get back out to the cinema in 2021.

"There's plenty of good Australian product at the moment, February and March looks really good," he said.

Wagga Wagga Thai fusion restaurant, Thaigga, owner Robert Baliva said he would be signing his restaurant up for the program.

"I think it's a good incentive and I'm pretty keen for it to all happen, it'll be good for the town," he said.

The dining vouchers can only be used from Monday to Thursday, which Mr Baliva said made sense to his business with busier Fridays and weekends already seeing strong bookings.

"On those quieter nights we noticed it's not as busy as before coronavirus," he said.

"Maybe they'll come try somewhere they previously hadn't been able to come to ... also just in general get out of the house."

NSW customer service minister Victor Dominello said a specialised app had been launched for businesses to track their participation, with money from each voucher spent at their business to be paid to them automatically within a week.

Mr Dominello encouraged all NSW residents to download the Service NSW app, where they can register for a MyServiceNSW account to claim their vouchers once available and search for participating businesses.