Zoo visitor satisfaction with animal visibility

Abstract

ZOO VISITOR SATISFACTION WITH ANIMAL VISIBILITY By Ashley S Couch Millions of people visit zoos on an annual basis but we know very little about zoo visitor satisfaction with animal visibility; a lack of animal visibility may negatively impact a zoo visit. This study attempts to determine the overall satisfaction of zoo visitors, their satisfaction with animal visibility, and how important they consider animal welfare and animal visibility. Also, this study examines how often visitors expect the animals to be visible. Finally, wildlife tourists and their satisfaction with animal visibility in the wild is compared to a zoo setting. These questions will be analyzed between an array of demographic groups treated as the dependent variables (men vs. women, zoo members vs. non members, age, income, presence of children, weekday vs. weekend visitors, education level) or other visitor features (if they feel the zoo is a good value, feel animals need a hiding place out of view of the zoo visitors, visit frequency). Nearly 500 zoo visitors at two zoos completed an exit survey. T-tests were used to find statistical significance. The results show that most zoo visitors are very satisfied with their zoo experience but there were some statistically significant differences found. Overall, the value of the zoo, zoo membership, and visit frequency were found to have significant differences in some of the survey questions. Wildlife tourists were found to have higher expectations of visibility in a captive setting. The results differed between the two zoos which could be due to the features of each zoo, unique visitor experiences, or even outside factors such as mood. Overall, zoo administrators can learn more about visitor satisfaction and expectations about their visit from this type of research to ensure a positive experience for their visitors and welfare for the animals.

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