The ancient Egyptian Temple Garden is one of 18 themed gardens telling the history of gardening and civilisations over the ages at the Hamilton Gardens. Photo: Supplied / Hamilton City Council
The famous themed gardens in Hamilton are preparing to introduce an out-of- town visitor charge in 2024.
The charge will apply to visitors who live outside Hamilton City, and will come into place later this year once the new visitor centre is completed.
Over half-a-million people visit the enclosed garden area each year, covering about five hectares of the nearly 50-hectare gardens.
Garden director Lucy Ryan said the $20 visitor charge will help the gardens become more financially independent and invest in future developments.
"The charge is really to help the gardens' operations, so we can get better and better and reinvest in it and become a bit more self-sustainable."
Ryan said the gardens were currently ratepayer-funded. Hamilton residents are facing a proposed 25.5 percent rate increase for 2024-2025 as the council grapples with rising interest rates, inflation, and looming water infrastructure costs.
Hamilton Gardens was ranked in the top 1 percent of world attractions for 2023 by online travel advice site Trip Advisor, and Ryan said many international visitors assumed there was already a charge.
"The amount of times people come into the info centre asking how much it costs to get in is remarkable."
Ryan said there were some people who did not think they should charge, but a lot of other people told her they thought it was worth $20, which she said was nice to hear.