I've been thinking about this a lot today since I read this, and I think people need to realise, that whilst people losing their jobs is not good, it hasn't stated that the job cuts are animal staff. Yorkshire takes on a lot of interns in the keeping team as well, so I can't see it being a huge affect. I would imagine it would be more ground staff, events staff, seasonal catering and shop staff and possibly hotel staff, if the hotel isn't that popular.
Also, a few people on here have said about the concerts and that it scares the animals and such a bad idea and all the incidents that have happened at other zoos with things ending up in animal exhibits.
I am not sure how many of your have been to one of Yorkshires concerts, but I went earlier this year to see Russell Watson, and the concert actually isn't in the zoo at all. It's outside, near where the old Car Park used to be, and the old entrance. You don't have any access to the Zoo, so you wont see animals and it is far enough away from the animal exhibits where it is to have any real affect on them. Perhaps the Lions could be the only species to be able to see the flashing lights and hear the music and that, but it is actually quite far off the animal exhibits, so to be honest, it's not too different to how Longleat do things, it's not like it's on the bug theatre lawn or in a place near all the exhibits.
Also someone also said about 10K people there for the concerts I don't think the capacity is anything like that to be honest. I think there was probably 2000/3000 max at Russell Watson, and I would imagine it is capped around these numbers.
They are probably a good revenue for the zoo. Tickets aren't extreme and the acts performing wouldn't be big money, possibly 10-15K a night, someone like Steps may command more, but it's not like they are getting The Killers or Ed Sheeran or Taylor Swift to for about 100K a night. The acts performing would not be massive prices, and therefore if say 2000/3000 pay £25/30 to come and see them, it would be a huge revenue stream for the zoo.
People are also saying they need to get back to what they do best. But conservation projects, new exhibits, big draw animals cost a fortune, and this can only be paid for if revenue is coming in. They have also spent a fortune in building the shopping complex, new entrance (which is poorly managed in my opinion), Hotel and Conference centre.
There is also running costs to these, so these have to be a success to support the animal projects. Lets not forget as well, the owners of the Zoo have also recently purchased the land which South Lakes Safari Zoo is on, so there has been huge financial outlay.
I would say, they were looking to go down the Port Lympne model, trying to attract high end clients and so on, but whilst one is in an affluent area, South Yorkshire is not, and its close to Doncaster, Barnsley and Pontefract which are notably poor areas, and I think this is a huge reason why Chester have never gone down this road and concentrated of having a posh restaurant as a way to attracting big paying visitors.
I suspect this has been a big risk for Yorkshire and with the financial climate as it is, they now have to address certain things costing them money. They already said earlier this year, they would not be building or adding further animal exhibits until all the commercial things were up and running and bringing in money, so it's probably a case of Yorkshire has expanded as far as it's going to.
It would also explain why certain plans they had in place earlier in the year were withdrawn, as the financials would have been clearer to bosses, that these things were unlikely to happen.
Visiting numbers are down 22%, but I think also membership has been a bit of a kick in the teeth to loyal members. They added all this new stuff and suddenly introduced tiered membership. The £75 membership used to be £65, but included all events and everything, instead they changed it, and gave you unlimited access and 10% discounts in shop and food, but took away all events from it. Then they brought out the gold membership at £130. Which is massively expensive for a annual pass to any zoo (Chester is only £86 and includes pretty much all events). They claim the biggest perk is no pre booking (yes even on normal membership, you have to pre book). Advanced visit events included, one bronze pass to a Safari night and discounts. The reality was when the park expanded, they told members they would reward loyalty by allowing them to stay members for £75, but actually this was a £10 increase and they removed a lot of the main perks and made you pre book, and then created the £130 membership. This upset a lot of people who had supported the zoo from the off, and many cancelled memberships. I doubt take up on the Gold all singing and dancing membership is high either.
Also they charge £25 for children, and £26 for OAPs with Adults £27. This is a lot and a family of 4 people would be over £100. For a relatively poor area, this would be very off putting and probably too expensive. Add to that you have to park a good 10 minute walk from the entrance and then queue up to get a barcode to enter, even if you've pre-booked, I would say these factors alone have hit visitor numbers.
I'm not sure what the zoo can do to get back on track, but maybe they need to start aiming at the market of the local area and not a market that just isn't realistic.
You would be better off getting 1000 visitors a day charging £10 for kids and £20 for adults, then 300/400 paying £27 and £25.
Also the catering is very expensive and there isn't really enough places to sit down and eat, they seemed to expand massively to get more people, but left the catering spaces the same size as when they were a lot smaller, which puts people off eating out.
It will certainly be interesting what they do, but I feel the simple things could help them in the short term.
But as someone who has been to one of their concerts, I don't think its as big a problem as some people think, and the animals are far enough away not to be bothered too much.
It's not like a London Twilight night with lots of pop up bands, musicians playing within 20/30ft from some enclosures.