From ticket booth to grand 'gateway': Cradle Mountain's new visitor centre

The facility includes interpretive installations, retail space for tourism operators, a cafe and a space to orientate those undertaking the Overland Track.

It also includes three undercover shelters, 230 parking spots, a bus turning circle, electric car charging stations and a 24-hour self-serve petrol station.

Minister for Environment and Parks Roger Jaensch said it wasn't a "ticket office" but a "gateway" to Cradle Mountain and the wilderness beyond.

"It's a way of receiving people and saying, 'Leave your world in the car park .... and we will then take you into this special place and introduce you to it'," he said.

"I don't think we've done that before for Cradle Mountain, our most significant nature-based asset that's known around the world."

Mr Jaensch said the architecture also respected "the shapes and the colours and the textures of the environment" and was easily adaptable.

"The design of the whole centre is adaptable to changing numbers throughout the year, in the day but also over time," he said.

"It future proofs us from some of those challenges of managing increased traffic."

The gateway was officially opened on Monday and forms part of the state and federal government's $86.8 million development of infrastructure at Cradle Mountain.

Tourism Industry Council Tasmania chief executive Luke Martin said upgrading infrastructure had been on the radar of operators for decades.

"So this master plan, work started around eight or nine year's ago and a lot of work's gone into it, a lot of debate, a lot of action and obviously now a lot of funding," he said.

"And it's great to see this realisation that all that work came to light."

Kentish mayor Tim Wilson said Cradle Mountain was the biggest tourist attraction in the municipality but had been let down by its "underwhelming" entry point.

"We called it the 'truck stop down the road'. It reminded me of a demountable when I was at school," he said.

"But now we finally have a facility that does justice to the World Heritage Area ... and I feel proud today that we've finally got there."