Cambridge i-Site will close on June 30 following cutbacks, a rent increase and Riverside Adventures’ decision to move out of the Town Hall space.
Cambridge i-Site to close at the end of June. Photo: Mary Anne Gill
Destination Cambridge, which has 150 members and previously ran the i-Site for accommodation, attractions, hospitality, transport and retail providers – before handing over to Riverside last year – will transition to a digital rather than physical presence.
Ruth Crampton
Its general manager Ruth Crampton has resigned.
Waipā District Council canned an annual grant of $157,000 last year but gave the organisation a one-off $30,000 fee to maintain its online presence.
The organisation runs the cambridge.co.nz website which has 130,000 visitors a year and the popular What’s On events section.
“Our board is making some decisions about what this looks like now for the town because we all know with the (council’s) pending economic well-being strategy, having tourism at the heart of it is critical,” Crampton said.
“No funding from the council into tourism in Cambridge makes no sense,” she said.
Waipā council funds Hamilton and Waikato Tourism although it reduced its annual contribution this year from $183,000 to $147,000.
Lucy Young
Destination Cambridge chair Lucy Young told The News Crampton’s resignation was disappointing.
The council’s decision to pull funding was “our biggest crisis,” said Young.
The trust which now runs the Town Hall on behalf of the council had also signalled it would double the rent to market rates from July 1.
Riverside business manager Memorie Brooky said her company would no longer operate an i-Site from the Town Hall but planned to provide information services elsewhere. She could not say whether that would be at the Velodrome, where it runs a bike shop, or somewhere else in Cambridge CBD.
Rural Tours which took on two of Destination Cambridge’s staff last year and operated out of the Town Hall would also move out.
The News understands the Chamber of Commerce and deputy mayor Liz Stolwyk, who was the original manager when Destination Cambridge became an incorporated society to run an information centre in late 2000, have held talks with interested parties about plans from July 1.
Cambridge i-Site
Cambridge News 27 March 2025
Young said the organisation’s website, which she described as “digital gold” was an important vehicle to promote Cambridge.
Moving out of the Town Hall and dropping the i-Site was not the end of Destination Cambridge, said Young, who will stand down as chair later this year having completed her obligatory two years in the role.
Brooky said the summer had been busy in the i-Site.
“But it feels more like a community service.”
A cycling team outside the Velodrome in front of Riverside Adventures. Photo: Danielle Fuller
Tourism operators like Riverside now wanted to know who was doing what given there was a lot of duplication, particularly in the events’ space, she said.
In its recently published draft Economic Wellbeing Strategy, the council said it would develop a Waipā Destination Marketing Plan to brand, promote and market the district as a premier tourism destination and develop an events’ programme that “brings our community together and attracts tourists and tourism investment.”
Cambridge i-Site
