Top 30 UK zoos

Top 30 UK zoos
18-09-2007

It's very hard to compile a list of the top UK zoos ranked by visitor numbers because not all zoos disclose their data, especially the private ones. This list is about as complete and as up-to-date as I can manage. Perhaps unsurprisingly the top three are made up of the theme parks that also include zoos.

The list gives zoo name, attendance figure, year and change on previous year (if known)

1. Flamingo Land Theme Park and Zoo, 1,302,195 (2006) -7%
2. Chessington World of Adventures, 1,240,000 (2002, approx) n/a
3. Drayton Manor Theme Park and Zoo, 1,200,000 (2002, approx) +25%
4. Chester Zoo, 1,161,922 (2006) +7%
5. ZSL London, 883,092 (2006) +9%
6. Longleat Safari Park, 855,235 (2006) +10% (includes visits to Longleat House)
7. Edinburgh Zoo, 655,203 (2006) +7%
8. Bristol Zoo, 567,142 (2006) +4%
9. Twycross Zoo, 511,400 (2005, approx) +9%
10. Marwell Zoo, 510,955 (2006) +1%

11. Monkey World, 475,000 (2005) n/a
12. Colchester Zoo, 473,228 (2006) -13%
13. Paignton Zoo, 463,546 (2006) +3%
14. Howletts Wild Animal Park, 450,000 (2005, approx) +50%
15. Knowsley Safari Park, 447,300 (2002) n/a
16. ZSL Whipsnade, 446,829 (2006) -11%
17. Woburn Safari Park, 424,137 (2006) +6%
18. Blair Drummond Safari Park, 402,701 (2006) +10%
19. Cotswold Wildlife Park, 318,184 (2006) -2%
20. Blackpool Zoo, 315,000 (2006, approx) +5%

21. Paradise Wildlife Park 260,000 (2003, approx) n/a
22. Belfast Zoo, 257,713 (2006), +23%
23. Dudley Zoo, 210,000 (1999, approx) n/a
24. Combe Martin Wildlife Park, 210,000 (2006, approx) n/a
25. Newquay Zoo, 191,767 (2006) -1%
26. Banham Zoo, 190,000 (2006, approx) -6%
27. WWT Slimbridge, 187,744 (2006) -1%
28. Port Lympne Wild Animal Park, 173,620 (2006) n/a
29. Africa Alive! 145,000 (2006, approx) +6%
30. Welsh Mountain Zoo, 138,000 (2006, approx) n/a

It is not strictly correct to list the figures for Chessington, Drayton Manor, Knowsley, Paradise and Dudley alongside the 2006 data because they are for previous years. The overall trend of visitor attendances at zoos is up (+5% in 2005, +2% in 2006) with the last significant decline in 2001, the year of the foot and mouth outbreak.

The zoos which would have probably featured in this list if they reported figures are: West Midland Safari Park, South Lakes Wild Animal Park, Jersey Zoo, Cricket St. Thomas Wildlife Park, Linton Zoo and Drusillas Zoo Park.

Sources for this info have included zoo websites, annual reports, charity commision registry documents and tourist board surveys.

19-09-2007

I'm surprised Monkey World are not listed, given the constant TV coverage...

19-09-2007

Hadley, this is a list I put together myself. I hadn't considered Monkey World - I'll see if I can dig out the visitor numbers and will amend the list if necessary (or perhaps somebody else knows them?)

Not seen MW on the telly, but there's no doubt that TV exposure has benefited the likes of Longleat hugely.

19-09-2007

Sorry, I thought it was a list that had been published. Would still be interesting to see where monkey world stands though, a TV series seems to give a real boost to visitor numbers, take longleat for example, despite being the only UK safari park without elephants.

19-09-2007

The International Zoo Yearbook volume 40 gives the attendace for Monkey World as 475,000 in 2005. That would place them 11th in the list.

19-09-2007

Thanks bongorob, I've edited the list to include Monkey World. They do amazing business for a place with such few species. The MW and Twycross numbers show what pulling power primates have.

Anyone have numbers for the other missing sites I listed: West Midland Safari Park, Drusillas, Linton, South Lakes WAP, Jersey and Cricket St Thomas? I don't have access to International Zoo Yearbook.

19-09-2007

Cricket St Thomas 96,448 (2005) and Jersey 123,564 (2005) . IZYB 40 does not list the other collections.

19-09-2007

I may beable to get south lakes numbers, i know i have read it somewhere i think it was in their guide book.

19-09-2007

Thanks again bongorob - sadly, neither Jersey nor CST make the cut.

Bristol's numbers are very good. For such a small zoo without much in the way of crowd-pleasing 'megafauna' they do remarkably well.

Their masterplan for the wildlife park at Cribbs Causeway states that they are expecting to get 600,000 visitors, which would automatically put it in the top 5 specialist wildlife attractions. They only have a £50m budget and plan to develop the park in 3 phases, so I don't think the 600,000 figure is realistic.

Top 50 zoos
20-09-2007

How many of these zoos ( and which ones ) are combined with amusement parks or other attraction ? This may distort the real figure for zoo visitation upwards in their favour .

20-09-2007

As I noted before, the top three (Flamingo Land, Chessington and Drayton Manor) are zoos within theme parks and would probably not be the biggest draw for most visitors. Certainly the zoo at Drayton Manor is always very quiet when I've been, compared to the queues for the rides.

There are also rides at West Midland Safari Park, but in this case I would say the safari park is the main attraction. We don't have numbers for WMSP in any case.

Longleat's numbers are certainly skewed because it is the total visitors to all attractions, namely the mansion house, grounds, gardens, safari park, maze, railway, butterfly house etc etc. You can buy a 'Passport' ticket for all attractions or pay for each separately.

Combe Martin and Blackpool both include dinosaur-themed attractions, and Combe Martin also has a couple of rides. At both venues, the admission price covers all attractions.

21-09-2007

The top 3 are not techinachly zoos, so honestly Chester is probably the most popular uk zoo. Just being in the capital helps London, whilst the TV Show helps Longleat, considering not being in major cities Twycross and Marwell's top 10 placing are good and off course when Marwell develop the masterplan, they should have huge numbers. Good to see Colcgester, Monkey World, Paignton, Howletts and Knowsley doing well. Im very suprised at the rather low numbers for Whipsnade, Woburn, Belfast, Port Lympne and the no show for Jersey.

21-09-2007

Dudley's attendance for 2005 was 140,000. That's a huge drop.

21-09-2007

Wow, that is bad for Dudley considering the catchment. Attendances have been falling year on year for nigh on a decade, which goes against the grain of the good times that most other UK zoos are experiencing right now. Their regeneration plans are badly needed.

There's no doubt that Whipsnade and Woburn cannibalise each other's attendance figures from being so close to each other and so similar in nature.

The Howletts and Port Lympne numbers seem to yo-yo quite a bit. Howletts is having a bit of a purple patch at the moment, but Port Lympne is in the doldrums (it had nearly 320,000 in 2003). Maybe the ROAR TV series will help it recover. One thing both parks share in common with Jersey is that they are losing money because they tend to spend more on overseas conservation projects than other zoos (and good for them).

Visitor numbers are highly sensitive to high-profile births. For example, Paignton have had a fantastic summer thanks to their baby rhino, and look set to break 500,000 this year. A few years ago Colchester were well up on the 2006 figures when they had an elephant birth.

21-09-2007

I think its because they're situated within a big city so lots of potential visitors. I was there recently and for a 'zoo-goer' its a very short visit nowadays- seems less to see each on each visit really.

I was told they have only raised about £3 million so far for the new park outside the city, so still have a long way to go to reach their target figure.