First Timers Boost Garden Festival, Economy

A record number of new visitors flocked to the 2024 Centuria Taranaki Garden Festival, boosting the region’s economy on the way, says the latest BERL Report.

Festival Manager Jessica Parker says the report shows 94% of attendees from outside the region were first-timers to the event, which ran from November 1 to 10.

“That is the highest percentage of newcomers from beyond Taranaki recorded in the economic impact report in the 2020s,” she says.

The 2023 event attracted 92% of people attending for the first time and in 2022, that figure was 60%.

Jessica says the festival’s impact extends beyond its garden gates, boosting Taranaki’s economy significantly.

“We cannot underestimate the impact that the festival has on our region,” she says, remembering how the region was bustling with activity, from packed accommodation to thriving hospitality.

“It's over ten days, and you see people starting to arrive a few days before. They’re all here spending their money, filling up hotels, and eating food.”

In Stratford, Stuart Greenhill, co-owner of Fenton Street Arts Collective & Distillery, says the 10-day festival was a boon for the café and gin specialist.

“We found out that people who love gardens also love gin. Seriously, I think it might be an age group but we did well on the gin sales as well,” says Stuart, son of garden festival stalwart Shirley Greenhill.

“They're very engaging and they don't just come and have their coffee and go, they want to know more and because we've got such a good story, they tend to linger.”

Those visitors also had praise for Taranaki. “A lot of them said they felt really welcomed here and, it was really warm and friendly… which was a great reflection on us as a district.”

The BERL Report shows there were 17,187 visitor nights spent in the region, up nearly 5000 from 2023, and the second highest accommodation recordings since 2020 (20,743).

Darrin Muggeridge, owner of the Plymouth International, home of the garden festival hub in 2024, says the city hotel recorded high occupancy rates during the TAFT-run event.

He says the garden celebration is consistently a boom time for the hotel and whole city.

“For hotels of course it's good because we get the occupancy and generally because they (visitors) are on tour buses, we get food and beverage as well,” he says.

And those hotel guests, usually aged 55-plus, are lovely people, who are easy to have stay.

In 2024, the annual spring festival pulled in the highest new spend of $6.5m (2022 and 2020 both notched up $5.6m), and the Gross Domestic Product figure of $5 million was also the best (in 2022 it was $4.3m and in 2020 it was $4.2m).

The 37th festival was all-round popular. “This last year we have really done incredibly well with the garden visits. We've had in excess of 67,000 visits, which is a huge increase even from last year,” says Jessica. “It does show that we are tracking incredibly well.”

For 2024, there were 67,210 visits to gardens, up 8342 from 2023, when 58,868 were recorded. The biggest years were in 2020 (79,161 visits) and 2022 (73,523 visits).

Matthew Butt, Head of Investor Relations for Centuria Capital, says 2024 was the property funds manager’s third year as naming partner.

“We are pleased to be continuing our association with the festival, which just gets better every year,” says Matthew.

“With record visitor numbers and so many people travelling from away, it is clear that the festival offers a unique and compelling experience, and the TAFT team deserve credit for constantly evolving and reimagining the programme to ensure that there really is something for everyone.”

Jessica considers 2024 to be the first festival truly free from the impacts of COVID-19. “We had some incredibly positive years during COVID because nobody could go anywhere. But in the last couple of years, we noticed a bit of a drop because people were travelling abroad. However, this last festival has been plain sailing in that regard.”

The latest festival, which featured 45 gardens, including five new entries and five returning favourites, attracted locals and visitors from beyond Taranaki, many of whom also took part in the 32-strong events programme, including workshops, talks and demonstrations.

“The Glenbrook train was a real hit this year because people love vintage trains. They enjoyed the journey and seeing the gardens, and the combination of those two things worked a treat,” says Jessica.

“We have so much to offer and always have something new. People come and visit year on year because there's always something else for them to see or do.”

The events include the Mitre-10 Garden Speaker Series featuring tours and talks from people passionate about their field of expertise.

Nicole Attrill, Mitre-10 Marketing & Customer Experience Manager, says the BERL Report results are a testament to all involved in the festival.

“Mitre 10 & Mitre 10 MEGA New Plymouth are proud to continue our support of the Centuria Taranaki Garden Festival,” says Nicole.

“It is a highlight to welcome visitors to our region, and to support this award-winning festival that involves so many facets of our community – from the gardeners to the businesses involved, to the wider community that get to enjoy such a splendid festival on our doorstep.

“As a region, we are incredibly privileged to have both passionate gardeners who create these stunning gardens involved in the festival, and the dedicated garden festival team who bring the gardens together, along with outstanding events, and workshops,” she says.

Jessica says visitors are also drawn to the diversity of the gardens and plants on show.

“It does seem that we can grow anything here. Even peonies, which people didn’t ever believe we could,” she says, highlighting fine examples at Cairnhill Garden in Toko and Waiongana Gardens near Waitara.

The festival, named the NZEA New Zealand’s Favourite Event for 2023, benefits from the dedication of its gardeners, who share not only their spaces but also their vast knowledge.

“It takes a huge amount of work, time, effort, and cost to create these wonderful gardens and spaces. And to open their gates so willingly is incredible,” says Jessica. “We are incredibly lucky to have them.”

Looking forward to the 2025 festival, on from October 31 to November 9, she is ensuring fresh discoveries for visitors. “We’ve already got a number of new gardens that have indicated they’d like to join us. It’s exciting.”

For locals and visitors alike, the festival continues to inspire and delight. “Nobody comes back and says, oh that was a waste of time,” says Jessica. “Everybody really gets something out of it and comes away with an incredible sense of pride in what Taranaki has to offer.”

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