As the digital world continues to flood our lives, some in the community wish they could hold back the tide.
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Batemans Bay and Narooma Visitor Information Centres are set to close, as council pulls funds to focus on an online tourism model.
Lisa Brown has been a tourist officer at the Narooma centre since 2004, and said the decision gutted her.
"I know it's a done deal; nothing the community can do can change what the council has in mind," she said.
Ms Brown said she has been concerned since the council first talked about new tourism service models more than five years ago.
Montague Arts and Crafts Society won the tender to provide visitor information services in 2016.
The lease expires in May, and whoever takes it over will not be funded to provide visitor information services.
MACS president Christine Macauley said the council's funds only covered one full-time staff member.
"It's very expensive to run," Ms Macauley said.
To cover costs, MACS relied heavily on souvenir sales.
Ms Brown said the council should entirely fund the service.
"Some councils provide services that don't have financial return; I feel this town and district needs this more than ever with the challenges thrown at us in the past 12 months," she said.
"It's rude for them not to justify spending - because the centre's return to the town is big."
Ms Brown takes pride in the centre's personal approach.
"Visitors often ask about the appropriateness of visiting Cobargo and Mogo post-bushfires," she said.
"It's an opportunity to prepare them for some confronting scenes and talk about the community resilience and recovery.
"It's face-to-face communication on a personal level - things you can't find out on the internet are what people love."
Ms Brown said many volunteers felt rewarded helping both tourists and locals.
"It's a heartwarming thing - you know you have made a difference and helped someone have more fun," Ms Brown said.
"Some people who look on the internet get overloaded; they come in here where we help filter the information and corroborate that they're on the right track.
"It's not only tourism information, there's a lot of support to locals as well."
Ms Brown said a popular service was booking buses for those who were hearing impaired or don't have the resources at home.
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Ms Macauley said it was a big loss to the community.
"It is very much a community facility," Ms Macauley said.
"We have one lady who can't use a computer and doesn't have a smart phone. She comes in to book a bus to go to Moruya so she can get her pension from her bank account.
"There's much more use of internet technology, however, Narooma is still quite largely a retirement community - that means the IT skills here aren't as high as a city area.
"There's a disjoint between a general assumption that everyone has a smart phone and those who don't.
"A lot of people on a pension can't afford a smart phone.
"Not everybody is tech savvy, or wants to be."
The council has planned to provide training for businesses to encourage personal recommendations supported by the council's tourism websites.
However, Ms Brown said the online approach was "not in touch with how the real world works".
"I think it's ill informed; here at the counter it's real people on real time," she said.
"There's something we supply here that's beyond financial return."
Ms Macauley feared for more traditional businesses.
"Those with the best websites really are winning - they're attracting visitors out of town and are more prominent in people's web search."
