Visitor Numbers for some collections in 2010

zoogiraffe

zoogiraffe

Well-Known Member
Just thought some people might like to see just how many visitors collections got in 2010,I have only listed the ones that I have figures for,

Suffolk Wildlife Park (Africa Alive) = 80,000
Banham Zoo = 173,569
Beale Park = 120,000
Belfast Zoo = 230,000
Birdland = 89,000
Birdworld = 250,000
Birmingham Nature Centre = 186,000
Blackpool Zoo = 303,249
Blair Drummond Safari Park = 425,000
Blue ReefAquarium Portsmouth = 258,000
Bristol Zoo = 412,00
British Wildlife Centre = 50,000
Calderglen Country Park Zoo = 700,000
Chessington World of Adventure = 1,410,000
Colchester Zoo = 470,000
Cotswold Wildlife Park = 335,577
Curraghs Wildlife Park = 52,000
Datmoor Zoological Park = 68,000
Drayton Manor Park = 900,000
Drusillas Zoo Park = 347,020
Dudley Zoo = 220,000
Durrell Wildlife Conservatin Trust = 143,000
Eagle Heights Wildlife Park = 43,000
Edinburgh Butterfly and Insect World = 85,000
Edinburgh Zoo = 610,000
Exmoor Zoo = 50,000
Flamingoland = 1,006,000
Galloway Wildlife Conservation Park = 29,250
Hamerton Wildlife Park = 42,000
Harewood House Bird Gardens = 130,000
Hawk Conservancy Trust = 65,000
Highland Wildlife Park = 125,000
Howletts Wild Animal Park = 166,077
Hunstanton Sealife Sanctuary = 250,00
Knowsley Safari Park = 463,00
Lakeland Wildlife Oasis = 23,500
Linton Zoological Gardens = 90,000
London Zoo = 1,225,000
Longleat Safari Park = 500,000
Marwell Zoo = 394,000
Mole Hall Wildlife Park (Now Closed) = 52,000
Natureland Seal Sanctuary Skegness = 129,000
Chester Zoo = 1,160,234
Paignton Zoo = 270,000
Paradise Park Hayle = 100,000
Pensthorpe Nature Reserve and Gardens = 90,708
Port Lympne Wild Animal Park = 136,643
Mablethorpe Seal Sanctuary = 45,000
Sealife Centre Great Yarmouth = 280,000
Shaldon Wildlife Trust = 14,000
Slimbridge WWT = 202,978
The Animal Ark = 173,569
Waddesdon Manor Aviary = 300,000
The Scottish Sealife Sanctuary = 125,000
Thrigby Hall Wildlife Gardens = 72,419
Twycross Zoo = 470,995
Welsh Mountain Zoo = 195,000
West Midlands Safari Park = 450,000
Whipsnade Zoo = 469,821
WWT Arundel = 115,285
WWT Llanelli = 42,000
WWT Martin Mere = 160,000
WWT Washington = 84,000
Wildwood Trust = 68,000
Woburn Safari Park = 300,000
World Owl Trust Muncaster = 62,416
World of Owls = 18,000

I have to say I was surprised by the totals of some of the collections,as I would have thought that Howletts and Port Lympne would have had more!!
 
Thanks for the info ZG. Out of interest, is the Animal Ark listed the now closed collection in Evesham?
 
Thanks for posting this great list! I knew that Howletts and Port Lympne had incredibly low visitor numbers as it seems that no one other than zoo enthusiasts visit those facilities. One wonders how the two parks stay open, especially with the enormous food bill that must be gained via having so many large mammals. Durrell has never been popular but it is due to its location, and I'd be curious as to what Edinburgh's numbers are like now that Giant Pandas have been added to the collection. The major surprise for me is Chessington, as I don't know very much about that establishment but it certainly is enormously popular!
 
snowleopard said:
Thanks for posting this great list! I knew that Howletts and Port Lympne had incredibly low visitor numbers as it seems that no one other than zoo enthusiasts visit those facilities. One wonders how the two parks stay open, especially with the enormous food bill that must be gained via having so many large mammals. Durrell has never been popular but it is due to its location, and I'd be curious as to what Edinburgh's numbers are like now that Giant Pandas have been added to the collection. The major surprise for me is Chessington, as I don't know very much about that establishment but it certainly is enormously popular!
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Re: Chessington - the huge theme park on site probably helps them along! After a period of stagnation/decline, there seems to be a burst of development of the zoo side recently though.

The figures for Flamingoland, Drayton Manor, Longleat, Calderglen and Waddesdon Manor are likewise not necessarily just for the zoo, as there are other attractions on site.

Re: Edinburgh - they're expecting 800,000 this year, based on figures from the start of December: BBC News - Edinburgh Zoo benefits from 'panda effect'



Three thoughts of my own from that list:

1 - Paignton - is that number right? That seems incredibly low given it's one of the bigger zoos and in prime tourist country.

2 - Cotswold look very comfortable there compared to similarly-sized places (and quite right too!).

3 - Once you disregard the theme park combos, it does drive home how far ahead Chester and London are compared to the other 'pure' zoos.
 
Africa alive is a very disappointing total, as well as Paignton too.
 
What a low figure for Dartmoor, less than the Washington Wild Fowl Trust up the road, interesting that London has reached the 1.25 million mark and thus overtaking Chester, I wonder what the official figures will be for 2011/12, considering the continuing state of the economy for all zoo attractions?
 
Paignton's Annual Review for 2010/11 gives visitor numbers as 454,474 (467,704 in 2009/10).

Living Coasts: just under 102,000. Newquay: 167,614.
 
Gigit said:
Paignton's Annual Review for 2010/11 gives visitor numbers as 454,474 (467,704 in 2009/10).

Living Coasts: just under 102,000. Newquay: 167,614.
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Thanks - that makes more sense - and probably allows us to explain the figure above - it looks like WWCT don't calculate their attendances by calendar year, so the figure above is probably effectively a 'year-to-date' report.
 
I think we have to also remember that 2010 was the real start of the economic problems,that the country is still in so that could explain the low figures for certain areas!
 
snowleopard said:
I knew that Howletts and Port Lympne had incredibly low visitor numbers as it seems that no one other than zoo enthusiasts visit those facilities. viit

The major surprise for me is Chessington, as I don't know very much about that establishment but it certainly is enormously popular!
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Definately not only Zoo enthusiasts who visit H & PL, go on any traditional popular visitor days .e.g. a summer Sunday or holidays and you'll see lots of typical families and plenty of cars in the carparks. But their overall attendance is much lower than zoos near large urban areas- Kent just hasn't got any big urban populations to provide them with huge numbers of visitors.

Chessington- the 'World of Adventures' theme park has always 'carried' the Zoo side there. In the summer months when the rides are open there is no optional seperate entrance ticket for the Zoo so everyone who goes in is paying for both, though the Animal collection is probaby ignored by many and is generally the quieter part of the site. Despite that new animal acquisitions are coming for the recent African plains development.
 
Interested where your figures come from as those for London and Chester don't seem to match their respective reviews.
2010 Chester 1,276,000
2010 London 1,011,257
The figures for 2011 were
Chester 1,400,000
London 1,090,741
 
ophidia said:
Interested where your figures come from as those for London and Chester don't seem to match their respective reviews.
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There are always problems with these comparisons because of different conditions for annual members (and Fellows at ZSL), free entry for young children at different ages, whether they count teachers with school parties and/or carers of people with disabilities etc.

Alan
 
I have to say that i am amazed at how low some of these figures are, particularly Howletts and Port lympne.
The one that is surprisingly high for me is Linton, i didn't expect it to have more visitors than Africa Alive or Thrigby or roughly double Exmoor & Hamerton, but for a collectiin that size to get two-thirds the visitors of Port Lympne is ridiculous!
I know it has been noted that the Aspinall collections have no large urban area nearby, but they dont have anything like the local conpetition Linton has to deal with.
 
I too am surprised at how low some of the figures are. Most of the animal collections are fine places that deserve many more visitors than they receive. The big surprise for me was Drusillas. I know approximately half its space is devoted to non-animal attractions (not my cup of tea, being a zoo purist, but I have to concede extraneous attractions (unfortunately) do seem to find favour with a large segment of the general public); even so, I hadn't expected it to be receiving quite as many visitors as that.
 
zooman64 said:
The big surprise for me was Drusillas. I know approximately half its space is devoted to non-animal attractions (not my cup of tea, being a zoo purist, but I have to concede extraneous attractions (unfortunately) do seem to find favour with a large segment of the general public); even so, I hadn't expected it to be receiving quite as many visitors as that.
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I think Drusillas is well placed on the South coast in an area virtually bereft of other animal collections, but within easy reach of Brighton and several other South coast towns. I also think 'kiddie power' may also play a part as its designed mainly as a children's attraction.
 
Wonder if the Howletts and Port Lympne figures are low because I think they sell a ticket which includes entry for a year . They could be reporting this number which would exclude repeat visits which probably generate income from food and shop sales etc.
 
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