UK Zoo Prices -Food For Thought

S

Shorts

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
Faced with a bit of idle time on a Sunday afternoon I (maybe rather sadly) thought it would be interesting to compare prices of major UK zoos (with a few smaller places thrown in for comparative purposes).

The following is a list of the lowest adult admission (sans gift aid) payable during peak periods (now in pretty much all cases).

I wondered if they might inspire some interesting thoughts and comments (or I can add another half an hour to my life total of time, reasonably enjoyably,wasted)?

Flamingoland 28.50
Longleat 27.50
London 20.90
Woburn 19.99
Whipsnade 18.63
Howletts 18.13 (assumed website quoted price includes giftaid)
Port Lympne 18.13 (as above)
Africa Alive 17.95
Banham 17.95
Paradise Wildlife 17.00
Colchester 16.99
Marwell 16.35
Chester 16.30
Blackpool 15.50
Twycross 15.00
West Midlands 14.99
Edinburgh 13.95
Bristol 13.18
Paignton 13.10
Cotswold 13.00
Knowsley 12.75
Highland 12.60
Dudley 11.80
Thrigby 11.50
Newquay 10.95
Exmoor 10.95
Welsh Mountain 9.95
Five Sisters 7.95

It's a bit fiddly comparing as non-charity zoos lose approx. 1/6th entry fees to VAT and charity zoos, if they can solicit the increased gift aid price, get extra money from HMRC but I'll make the following observations to (hopefully) get the ball rolling:

1. Knowsley (though one of two places in list I've somehow never visited) seems very good value at the moment);
2. Africa Alive and Banham seem pretty steep for what's on offer (maybe Norfolk/Suffolk gives a captive market due to lack of west-east motorways?);
3. Longleat seems bloody expensive (partly, I think, due to not being able to not pay to see the house though paradoxically you can pay just to see the house)
 
Strangely enough, i started a similar exercise recently for annual passes & entrance fees after finding Shepreth's annual pass was 75.00 for adults, i can't believe you'll find worse value, especially as it doesn't include bank holidays!its the same as for zsl, which gives 2 large zoos & more than chester, colchester, bristol, paignton etc which get you into 10 zoos. The daily entrance of 10.50 is pretty over the top too, particularly compared to the vastly superior (imho) hamerton at 9.50 & only 29.50 for an annual pass. Add to that Shepreth isn't open for 3 days of the week in winter and it makes the annual fee by far the worst i've found!

I agree with those you state as overpriced, but would add Paradise WP to the list, how that can cost more for a family than Colchester or Chester, i'll never know, i thought it was very overpriced when i went there & took 3 kids about 5 years ago & haven't returned!

I know London & Whipsnade are expensive, & often criticised for it on here, but given the part of the country they are in, at least they are a full day out, some that charge half their entrance or more, aren't even a 3 hour visit!

Best value has to be Edinburgh.
 
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Someone posted a study (by a third party group) on here recently of prices in zoos in the USA. The conclusion was that there is no consistency at all, meaning price does not accurately reflect value. Zoos of the same calibre have wildly divergent admission fees.

In my state of Arizona, the most expensive (Out Of Africa) is probably one of the worst. It is three times the price of Phoenix Zoo and five times the price of my local Reid Park Zoo, both of which are arguably superior. Reid Park has got to be one of the best values, at only $7 US (which is less than five euros).

If I assume the conversion rate at about $1.50 US dollars to 1 euro, it seems the UK prices you list are overall higher than the average US zoos, even though the latter have generally more elaborate (and expensive) immersion exhibits.
 
Arizona Docent said:
Someone posted a study (by a third party group) on here recently of prices in zoos in the USA. The conclusion was that there is no consistency at all, meaning price does not accurately reflect value. Zoos of the same calibre have wildly divergent admission fees.
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I'm surprised any self-respecting economist bothered with the study. It's about as far from a pure market as you can get. Most zoos don't compete with each other - they have a territorial monopoly for their product, and instead compete with other forms of leisure activity in the same marketplace. The entry price to Seaworld San Diego is of much more relevance to SDZ than the entry price to, say, Woodland Park.

If you want to look for significant price behaviour look for similar enterprises competing in the same or highly-integrated cities. Dallas and Fort Worth and Woburn and Whipsnade are the two that come to mind. To a lesser extent you might see it between nearby cities like Columbus and Cincinnati - anywhere that is a comfortable day trip away. But even then you have to allow for the considerable differences between private, charitable and public-sector enterprises, as this will influence price.

In short, there is no real market specifically of zoos, and therefore no reason for a price comparison to make much sense.
 
CGSwans said:
I'm surprised any self-respecting economist bothered with the study. It's about as far from a pure market as you can get. Most zoos don't compete with each other - they have a territorial monopoly for their product, and instead compete with other forms of leisure activity in the same marketplace. The entry price to Seaworld San Diego is of much more relevance to SDZ than the entry price to, say, Woodland Park.

In short, there is no real market specifically of zoos, and therefore no reason for a price comparison to make much sense.
Click to expand...

Spot on! I'm quite embarrassed now, given I've got an economics degree (long time ago though), once you've pointed out the above it's staring you in the face.

However, just because it's reasonably explainable doesn't mean it's not fun comparing value for money and wondering why some places seem to achieve so little and offer so little (in comparison with others) for the fees they charge (although visitor numbers also have to be considered). The most obvious culprit for this (sorry to bang my drum on an old theme) would be Twycross which charges a roughly similar price to Colchester, and has a similar number of visitor, but to the casual visitor is a considerably different quality of zoo.
 
Well I do not know enough about them to compare, but my intuition is that museum prices are much more in line with each other, regardless of location or competition from other attractions. Same with mini golf courses, amusement parks, etc. So I am not sure I buy into the locale/competition argument. The example I cited from my state, Out Of Africa, is in a rural location and is the only attraction for miles around, so why should it cost twice the Phoenix Zoo admission (which has tons of competition)?
 
You've answered your own question, AZ D. Less competition, all else being equal, means they can get away with higher prices. Of course it's more complicated than that - I don't know the intricate details of the two zoos but do know for a start that one is a private enterprise and the other has municipal backing, which has lots of implications for their respective costs and revenues.

The one example you mention which is most interesting is mini golf, since the product is almost always the same and, apart from rents, should have similar operating costs. It's too much work for me to do, but I suggest if you're interested try mapping out the cost of a round of mini-golf by area. You'll find in areas with multiple venues they will tend to be a bit cheaper. To do it right you do need to adjust for cost of living, which is not consistent across communities either.
 
In the leisure field time is a commodity too, with limited leisure time people feel they want to get the best experience for the time they have available. Thus a higher price can be a buy incentive, in that it denotes a quality experience. Conversely an unusually low price can work to send the message "it can't be worth visiting".
 
The Living Rain Forest at £9.95 is surely the UK's least value for money Animal collection . To be fair you can go back within the year but why would anyone want too?
 
I paid £12 to visit Borth Animalarium last Friday , this is a very small collection .
 
Until it closed, Bugworld Liverpool was the worst value for money animal exhibit I have ever visited, for £10.95 you did well to stretch your visit to an hour!
Knowsley at £12.75 is a temporary price (good value though), it is usually £16.00.
 
Pootle said:
Until it closed, Bugworld Liverpool was the worst value for money animal exhibit I have ever visited, for £10.95 you did well to stretch your visit to an hour!
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Much the same can be said for most of the SeaLife and Bluereef aquariums.
 
TeaLovingDave said:
Much the same can be said for most of the SeaLife and Bluereef aquariums.
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I understand that the admission prices for the Sea Life establishments are expensive, but at £8.75 for adults and £6.25 for children I think the admission price at the Blue Reef Tynemouth is fair, also in the North East, the Kirkley Hall zoo at Ponteland is resonable for this new small zoo, £6.00 adult, £4.00 for children, I would say you can spend a couple of enjoyable hours at both these attractions.
 
Seeing as you mentioned Flamingo Land, I wanted to point out that the entrance to Chessington is 39.60

I'm surprised Edinburgh's is that low for a city zoo.
 
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