Determining Factors of Zoo Visitor Attendances in UK Zoos

nanoboy

Well-Known Member
I came across a recent paper published in the journal PLoS ONE entitled "An Investigation into the Determining Factors of Zoo Visitor Attendances in UK Zoos".

Based on the survey: "The zoos that scored as the top five collections based upon the popularity of their collections were Chester, Paignton, London, Edinburgh and Twycross. The five lowest scoring collections were New Forest Wildlife Conservation Park, Highland Wildlife Park, Knowsley, Shaldon and The Living Rainforest."

"the following collections scored relatively low (popularity scores shown below in brackets) in comparison with their visitor number figures: Knowsley (111.36), Flamingo land (298.46), Woburn (235.39) and West Midlands (200.99)."

"primates were the most popular group of mammals, whilst ‘hippos’, ‘aardvarks’, ‘cavy-like rodents’ and ‘insectivores’ scored relatively low. ‘Passerines’ and ‘parrots’ were the two highest scoring bird groups whilst the ‘frogmouths and nightjars’ ranked lowest. With regard to the reptiles and amphibians the ‘iguanas’ and ‘frogs and toads’ were the two highest scoring, with ‘crocodiles and alligators’, ‘caecilians’ and the venomous snake groups scoring the lowest."

I wonder if our UK forumites agree with the ranking?

It's tough reading, so maybe just scroll to the "Results" section.

(Here is the journal paper: PLoS ONE: An Investigation into the Determining Factors of Zoo Visitor Attendances in UK Zoos)
 
They didn't consider public transport.

I think safari parks are unpopular in Britain not because animals are seen at distance, but because you visit them with a car. People without a car (young, elderly etc) and families with very small children (poorly stand staying all time in the car) rarely go there.
 
Having read the abstract and looked at the figures, I am going to enjoy studying this - a few years ago I had to try to get classes of students (on BTEC First Animal Care courses) to discuss these ideas on a very basic level. I wonder how much I got right?
As Jurek7 has pointed out, there are other factors which can affect visitor numbers - education programs, advertising and the presence of other attractions such as the theme parks (aka funfairs) at Chessington and Flamingoland.
Thank you for starting this thread nanoboy.

Alan
 
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