Te Papa was happy with how things were going and said the system was working well, but some polled visitors felt the $35 charge was too high.

Despite this, New Zealanders, who can still enter the national museum for free, were moving through easily, said Kate Camp, a spokesperson for Te Papa, and there was very little queueing for international ticket buyers.

The sales to date are just under Te Papa’s target, sitting at 87% this week. But as summer nears, the figure was increasing each week ‒ for the most recent week ended October 27, it sold tickets equating to 109% of its target, for example.

“We are observing the process closely and doing a lot of visitor research so we can keep learning and tweaking the process,” Camp said. “We will need to keep adjusting our approach as the number international visitors ramps up over summer.”

The Post asked visitors on a sunny Wellington Thursday their thoughts on the fee to mark its one-and-a-half month anniversary.

Tim and Margie Sullivan, from California, questioned the charge’s fairness and raised the point of accessibility. “I know that this goes to help fund the museum and I love the fact that we have museums, I just don’t like the fact we have to pay more,” Margie Sullivan said.

Another international visitor, Rachel Gagatek, felt the price should be lower. “I’ve been to London, most of the museums there are free for internationals ‒ $35 is quite a lot.”

But Jacques and Claudine Hagege, from France, were impressed with the museum’s facilities and were happy to pay the fee, with Jacques saying: “You [New Zealanders] pay tax so that you can visit all the museums.”

Jo Te Morenga and Tia Rata, two New Zealanders, said the fee was an important part of Te Papa being able to continue to preserve and educate people about New Zealand’s special culture.

“When I think about taonga Māori and the care and the uniqueness of those arts, in terms of sharing, there needs to be some kind of value placed on that,” Rata said.

Te Morenga added that if the museum were to shut down because of a lack of funding, it would be disastrous.

The introduction of the fee is expected to bring in several million dollars per year.

Entry for all visitors had previously been free since the museum opened in 1998.

The charge was introduced to help respond to the financial pressures the museum was facing.

The museum decided against keeping it free for people visiting from the Pacific islands, because of legal advice saying that could be a breach of the Human Rights Act. However, Te Papa, which holds a significant Pacific collection, instead decided to allow anyone from any country outside New Zealand who had connections to its taonga to have the fee waived by prior arrangement with staff.

Te Papa is the most visited museum in New Zealand, attracting 500,000 international visitors a year.

Correction: Te Papa decided against keeping entry free for people from the Pacific because of legal advice, not in spite of it. Story updated, November 1, 8.57am.