Motel Association (Otago) president Pete Firns said it looked like it might be "a light at the end of the tunnel" for the accommodation sector.
"It does look that way, but who knows what can happen in the future?
"We like to think it is a light at the end of the tunnel — that we’re heading to the new normal."
He said forward bookings were starting to come out of the woodwork after a very slow start to the year.
"We’d get a lot of very short lead-time bookings, but people are booking a bit further ahead now.
"That indicates that others have a more positive outlook. That all feeds on itself."
Mr Firns said he was pleased the city had got to the stage where it could hold a major event without it being interrupted by Covid-19.
"It’s very positive for the industry.
"These big events are really valuable to us and from those, you get spin-off in terms of people that come back again for another visit because they’ve had a good experience.
"They often go off and see a lot of the tourist attractions while they’re here.
"These events are fantastic for the sector and the city."
He said most accommodation providers were almost fully booked this weekend, and were "very pleased" with the way things were looking with the May graduations set for May 14 and May 21.
Dunedin restaurant and bar owner Andre Shi is also delighted the ceremony is going ahead.
"We’re all over the moon. It’s been a very long time coming. The first four months of this year have pretty much been a write-off."
He said he would be employing more staff over the weekend to keep up with the influx of customers celebrating graduations.
"It will be great to have some normality back — having more customers than staff for a change, definitely."
University of Otago vice-chancellor Professor David Murdoch was delighted the university was finally able to run its graduations in person this month.
"I’m pleased that we will be able to celebrate graduation in person with our graduands, their friends and whanau."
The partial closure of George St for the retail quarter upgrade has meant this month’s parades will take alternate routes to the Dunedin Town Hall.
The parade will start from the University of Otago School of Dentistry in Great King St at 11.30am and travel along Frederick and George Sts.
It will then travel on to St Andrew and Filleul Sts and finish at the Dunedin Town Hall in Moray Pl at noon.
