Are zoos too expensive?

F

foz

Well-Known Member
Sorry if there is already a thread on this (I did a quick search but couldn't find anythng).

Are zoos too expensive? in my view yes, I realise zoos have to pay for feeding, maintenance, conservation, vets etc but zoos have to be affordable to appeal to the mass market. I have only been able to visit two zoos this year simply because we can't afford to go to more. (although there might be a visit sprung upon me unexpectantly0. Surely it is better to lower the prices so more visitors arrive (balancing the cost) who are all likely to buy a little something, while at the same time more people being educated and become aware of animal conservation.

Here are just a few of ticket prices showing the cost of enjoying a wonderful zoo. (Adult prices not including donations)
London zoo: £16.50

Bristol zoo: £11.36

San diego zoo ("best value admission): $35

Bronx zoo: $15 (except wednesdays when its FREE! well donate what you like)

Chester zoo: £14.95

National smithsonian zoo: FREE!
 
I think some zoo's are very expensive. My 'home' zoo though (Marwell Zoo) I think has reasonable prices. The Annual Pass isn't a bad price either considerign that you get discounts pretty much everywhere and access to 11 other zoo's, not just Marwell.
 
There has been a similar thread, but cannot find it just now.

I have membership at my local zoo, that really helps to cut costs. However I find most are quite reasonable price wise (however some have felt like rip-offs by the end of the day)
 
Some zoos prices are just ridiculous, Paradise Wildlife Park: £14.50. I am sixteen and now have to pay adult fees so I rarely actually go into zoos. I went to Blackbrook in February when entrance was free but now it would cost me £8.95 for what is little more than a good bird collection.
 
Spanish zoos are very expensive. Most of them have an admision fee between 15-20€. All the other zoos I've visited in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, France and Czech Republic (Prague zoo were arround 2-3€) were cheaper.

On the other hand, the anual passes are cheaper. Barcelona Zoo anual pass costs 33€, and I have seen zoos that doubles this price in its anual passes.
 
MarwellGirl09 said:
I think some zoo's are very expensive. My 'home' zoo though (Marwell Zoo) I think has reasonable prices. The Annual Pass isn't a bad price either considerign that you get discounts pretty much everywhere and access to 11 other zoo's, not just Marwell.
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resonable!, for a family ticket (my parents me and my bro) and my grandparents it cost my parents 60 odd quid! I think the annual pass it very reasonab;e, but not a regular visit
 
Whether entrance fees are expensive depends on which perspective you're looking at the prices from:

For those on a tight budget they can be seen as an expensive treat.

But when you consider that in a lot of cases you're getting a full days "entertainment" they're amazing value when compared with the cost of an amusement park (a full days queueing for half an hours worth of rides:D) or the cost of a football match offering 90 minutes "action".

For what it's worth I think most zoos offer pretty good value considering what you're getting for the entrance fee -viewing of wonderful other living creatures, learning about them, getting to view some beautiful gardens (sometimes) and being able to be in contact and feed the animals (sometimes).

On a personal note I think aquariums are bad value for money (on a £ per hour spent there basis), though I appreciate they have considerable running costs. Finally I think Whipsnade, which I like, is disproportionately expensive especially when you have to pay extra to take the car or alternatively take the road train (which you have to do to be able to see all the exhibits).
 
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im happy to pay about £15- £20 but i have to say the paying extra to take the car in to Whipsnade makes it to expensive to go that much (£18 + £15 for car) never have been on the "road train" but tryed parking outside and walking round one day and its something my leg's dont want to do again :P
 
I think the price value depends on the zoo

If it was 40 bucks to get into Knoxville Zoo, I most likely would'nt pay but if it was Chester, i'd be right there in a flash
 
Prices here in America seem very inconsistent. My local zoo, Reid Park Zoo, is very cheap at $6 adult and it is one of the best (if not the best) small zoos in the country. San Diego is the most expensive traditional zoo in the country, and yet they are always crowded in summer. If the prices were any cheaper, there would be too many people for anyone to see any of the animals (not to mention finding a seat for lunch or finding a restroom with no lines, etc). I guess zoos charge as much as they can without driving people away.

The reciprocal membership program is a great deal. Roughly half of the 200 plus AZA accredited zoos and aquariums participate. If you are a member of one of them, you get into the others for half price (most) or even free (a few, like my zoo). Sorry, though, San Diego does NOT participate and neither does the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. But there are enough to make it worthwhile. Of course if you plan to spend at least three days or more a year at San Diego Zoo & Wild Animal Park, a membership to them only is still a good deal.
 
Always a fun debate. Holland's prices are at 17-19 euro for any decent zoo, which I think is reasonably steep.

But then, you can say that Germany is a lot cheaper but they are backed by the local gouvernment, so people are paying for it either way and it's not really fair to compare.

In Holland though, if you try and get some sort of discount you can very easily. There's loads of coupons at supermarkets, bonusses that come with magazines, even boardgames and memberships. Many people put these coupons on the dutch equivalent of E-Bay and they usually knock something like 25% off (with a maximum of 4 people).

The dolfinarium in Harderwijk had an attempt to break the world "kissing couples" record at Valentines day. If you showd up dressed in red with someone else, and you gave each other a kiss on the cheek at 9:30 (ish?) you where allowed to enter the park for free. If you're on a tight budget, there's loads of opportunities.

Is that the same in other country's? We in Holland love our coupons, we save just about every one we can get our hands on (even the ones that knock 1 euro off if you have like 50 odd of em...). Are discounts as popular and used in other countries?
 
Probably the most widely recognized discount program in America, not just for zoos but also theme parks, motels and some stores, is the Auto Club, known as AAA. Most zoos, if you ask, give a $1 or $2 discount to AAA members. Even though I have not owned a car for over a decade, I am a AAA member just for the discounts and free travel books.
 
'Expensive' is always going to be a subjective term, but I do feel that compared to other types of attraction most larger zoos offer good value for money. As others have already said, if you buy annual passes, you usually recoup your initial outlay within 3 or 4 visits and can then visit as often as you like for the rest of the year for free. For example, my Colchester pass also gets me free entry into Chester, Paignton, Twycross and others I can't remember now. When zoos are large enough to offer a full day out I think they're amazing value compared to, say, theme parks and as Shorts mentioned, there's none of that waiting in long queues all day.

What I personally find expensive and bad value for money are the smaller zoos and wildlife parks which can charge as much as £9 entry for an adult yet give you only an hour or two's viewing at most. Compare that to £15-ish for one of the large zoos or safari parks and they suddenly become much better value. I do understand that small zoos get less revenue, therefore less profit etc and therefore their prices are going to be comparably higher but unfortunately (and a catch 22 situation for the small zoos themselves) the comparatively higher admission does put me off.

Shepreth wildlife park is literally 10 mins down the road from me and it does have a reasonable collection for its size yet for me and my daughter to visit it's £16.90 .... and really, we could see it all in an hour (though my daughter could probably spend more hours on the playground but then we could go to the local park for free !). I'd like to go more often but I consider that too expensive and worse, it doesn't have a season ticket scheme, nor any sort of family ticket deal so I know friends of mine with 2 or 3 children are put off going even more. You also have to pay £3.40 extra for both of us to go into the bug display which always feels like rather a mean charge after you've already paid to go into the main park.
 
GillP said:
'Expensive' is always going to be a subjective term, but I do feel that compared to other types of attraction most larger zoos offer good value for money. As others have already said, if you buy annual passes, you usually recoup your initial outlay within 3 or 4 visits and can then visit as often as you like for the rest of the year for free. For example, my Colchester pass also gets me free entry into Chester, Paignton, Twycross and others I can't remember now. When zoos are large enough to offer a full day out I think they're amazing value compared to, say, theme parks and as Shorts mentioned, there's none of that waiting in long queues all day.

What I personally find expensive and bad value for money are the smaller zoos and wildlife parks which can charge as much as £9 entry for an adult yet give you only an hour or two's viewing at most. Compare that to £15-ish for one of the large zoos or safari parks and they suddenly become much better value. I do understand that small zoos get less revenue, therefore less profit etc and therefore their prices are going to be comparably higher but unfortunately (and a catch 22 situation for the small zoos themselves) the comparatively higher admission does put me off.

Shepreth wildlife park is literally 10 mins down the road from me and it does have a reasonable collection for its size yet for me and my daughter to visit it's £16.90 .... and really, we could see it all in an hour (though my daughter could probably spend more hours on the playground but then we could go to the local park for free !). I'd like to go more often but I consider that too expensive and worse, it doesn't have a season ticket scheme, nor any sort of family ticket deal so I know friends of mine with 2 or 3 children are put off going even more. You also have to pay £3.40 extra for both of us to go into the bug display which always feels like rather a mean charge after you've already paid to go into the main park.
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I agree with what you have written here, another factor is how much disposable income you have as a family. Aquariums are the worst for value for money and have stopped visiting them due to this.
 
Depending on what else you do in your spare time, zoos are relatively excellent value for money. For example, I go to football matches regularly. A standard ticket for my team is about £25 (sometimes more) for 90mins action (with similar food/drink prices as zoos). Should I want to go to an away game that is often more than a home ticket (some grounds are £50) and I would have to buy a ticket for official club travel which is another £15-20 depending on the location (train tickets seem to be more expensive when a match is on as well).

As has been mentioned, theme parks cost a lot more than a zoo would and you spend the majority of the day queuing (and not just for entry or for food like at a zoo) and a night at the cinema often comes to around £20 when everything has been bought and you only get a few hours of entertainment.

I don't think i've ever had to pay more than £15 for entry to a zoo and if I travel by public transport, then I look for the cheap deals. A normal day to Chester for me can cost £6 (without the fee for membership) because I tend not to use the food and drink facilities. A little over a fiver for a solid 5-6 hours entertainment and enjoyment is excellent value for money!
 
I think expensive is an overused term. Zoos price themselves because people are willing to pay that much to go to them. And people shouldn't be complaining about paying $10 to get into a zoo to see animals from around the world as opposed to paying a few thousand dollars to go see animals in the wild. Although it might be nicer to see them in their natural habitat, you aren't guaranteed to see any animals at all and you are also not getting the variety of species a zoo can offer.

And the money is also only being used to better the zoo and for conservation. It's not like a sports team when the money from your overpriced ticket is going to the overpaid athletes. The money is going right back to the zoo.
 
CZJimmy said:
Depending on what else you do in your spare time, zoos are relatively excellent value for money. For example, I go to football matches regularly. A standard ticket for my team is about £25 (sometimes more) for 90mins action (with similar food/drink prices as zoos). Should I want to go to an away game that is often more than a home ticket (some grounds are £50) and I would have to buy a ticket for official club travel which is another £15-20 depending on the location (train tickets seem to be more expensive when a match is on as well).

As has been mentioned, theme parks cost a lot more than a zoo would and you spend the majority of the day queuing (and not just for entry or for food like at a zoo) and a night at the cinema often comes to around £20 when everything has been bought and you only get a few hours of entertainment.
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But then Zoos shouldn't be as expensive as entertainment as they are primarily (or should be) scientific institutes and should be there to educate the mass and thus have the biggets effect on saving the worlds species. For the average visitor it is a nice day out with the family where they can see unusual animals. By lowering the rpices it ensures that far more people come to the zoo (whilst theoretically making the same money) and so more people are educated to the plight of animals and hopefully make a change to save them.

Personally I dont like to pay over £10 for a zoo. £10 is alot of money for some families who want to enjoy a zoo and help save wildlife.
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