As we are getting close to what will be probably a record year for some Czech zoos visitor-wise, I decided to make this thread to compare visitor numbers of zoos that are members of the Union of Czech and Slovak zoos more easily. As we eagerly wait for 2019 numbers, I decided to post the numbers for the years 2017 and 2018 to get this thread going. Year 2017: Slovakia Bojnice - 360 096 Bratislava - 287 991 Košice - 208 186 Spišská Nová Ves - 111 907 Czech Republic Brno - 308 112 Děčín - 114 489 Dvůr Králové - 524 721 Hluboká - 260 014 Hodonín - 166 364 Chleby - 56 280 Chomutov - 287 207 Jihlava - 316 654 Liberec - 355 336 Olomouc - 339 162 Ostrava - 506 973 Plzeň - 452 762 Praha - 1 445 126 Ústí - 163 994 Vyškov - 170 198 Zlín - 630 621 Year 2018: Slovakia Bojnice - 403 860 Bratislava - 316 597 Košice - 224 474 Spišská Nová Ves - 117 695 Czech Republic Brno - 330 118 Děčín - 115 298 Dvůr Králové - 508 885 Hluboká - 265 308 Hodonín - 172 140 Chleby - 58 912 Chomutov - 296 167 Jihlava - 333 016 Liberec - 368 195 Olomouc - 357 221 Ostrava - 537 412 Plzeň - 481 773 Praha - 1 427 491 Ústí - 173 998 Vyškov - 193 191 Zlín - 648 375 Some talking points: • The only zoos that dropped in numbers between those years are Dvur and Prague (of all places ) • Prague doesn't count kids younger than 3 years. • Prague and Zlin are uncontested in first and second place in the Czech Republic, others switch positions a bit. • Slovakia is and will be unchanged for foreseeable future. • Zoos with DinoPark (yeah that matters, A LOT...): Bratislava, Košice, Plzeň, Vyškov • Zoos that confirmed that in 2019 they have already beaten the historical record attendance or are close to beating it: Jihlava, Plzen, Ostrava Honorable mention from non-Union zoos: Zoopark Na Hrádečku - opened in 2014, obtained zoo license in 2016 and between years 2017 and 2018 managed to almost double its attendance cca 37k in 2017 and 61k in 2018. I will probably try to dig up the numbers from previous years as well
This thread is only few hours old and we have an update already! Today, Zlin confirmed that its attendance will be over 670k for the first time in their history. Also, it's very likely that Prague will have to wait for the 1,5 million at least one more year, as they hit the 1,4 million mark on 7th December.
The Czech republic has 30 licensed zoos (as of summer 2019), unfortunately it´s not easy to get attendance figures for zoos that are not members of UCSZ. I doubt any of those private small zoos has over 100k (but I could be wrong?). Prague seems to hit sort of "natural" barrier and oscilates for years close to 1,5 mio mark. It doesnt succeed to attract any substantial number of foreign tourists (minus Russians). Foreigners make only around 25% of total attendance - despite otherwise overcrowded airport and historic city center. I guess most tourists simply expect "typical dilapidated eastern european zoo" and never give it a try? Zoo Brno has never recovered to its former glory after régime fell in 1989. It used to have around 450k in 70s and 80s and today they are glad to cross 300k. Which is sad, the city and suburbs is doing great in economic sense. Zlín is probably the biggest surprise of last 30 years (visitor numbers-wise) and it seems its growth is still not over. Plenty of available parking space seems to help them a lot despite their location in the middle of nowhere. With new jaguar exhibit next year and Karibuni later, they might break 750k. Figure I have seen so far: Papouščí zoo Bošovice (small private parrot collection with monotone rows of aviaries and petting corner, zoo licence since 2011, only seasonal) - 45k in 2019 after just 30k last year and 25k in year 2017.
Some questions, Jana - How are their figures calculated? - is it all visitors, including free tickets (children, concessions, promotions etc) or just those paying for entry? Are season tickets or memberships offered? - and how do these affect the totals? Do all zoos use the same calculation methods?
Larger local zoos (let say zoos with over 100k annual footfall) usually have revolving counter at entrance and each person passing though must insert its ticket to be let in. Very small children that cant walk are thus usually not part of the total anywhere, but all other visitors, even if they got tickets for free, are counted in. Seasonal tickets and membership cards are offered by almost all larger zoos, but again, when each person has to pass an entry point and gets counted individually, it doesnt scew real visitors numbers. Czech/Slovak zoos dont use any standard number of planned visits per seasonal tickets - this is usual mothod used in Germany for example, but not here. Small zoos dont usually have non-standard tickets on offer, or they manage to sell just very few of them. They usually count number of tickets sold and thus underestimate their visitors numbers a little. Yes, most zoos who are members of UCSZ use similar methods to count their attendance. Some small discepancies exist, for example Liberec counts visitors to all its properties even outside of the zoo itself. Prague doesnt count children under 3. Vyškov sells one ticket valid for both the zoo and dino park during summer, but many families just visit the dinosaurs and miss the zoo.
That is very interesting, thank you. I think if you asked the same question in England, you would either get no reply or a wide variety of answers. Your point about counting every visit not screwing footfall figures is quite valid, although it would affect gate income. For example, because an annual season ticket here costs 3 times the entry, we count it once as 3 visits. Some are used every week, but because they only pay for 3, we only count 3. We also do not count children who don't pay (under 3's), or any free, concession or promotion visits. I think if we used the system from your 'larger local' category, our numbers would be quite a bit higher.... we might try it during 2020 in parallel and see...
Is it 30 already? The official list has 29 with one of listed closed already (the license still might be valid though...) and I know one new license was obtained, but I can't remember the name of it. So I count only 29 although it might be just my metric I don't think that is the case, "typical dilapidated eastern European zoo" wouldn't get to TOP 5 of TripAdvisor...I think the bigger problem might be traffic connection. Having a safari camp in Karibuni where guests can stay overnight will help too. That is why I included UCSZOO only + Hrádeček as their figure was I able to find. The number I included for Liberec is Zoo only, IIRC the other institutions would give it another cca 40k+ I would also like to see the "unique visitors" method in CZE (not as the main one, but just for comparsion)
I think Terárium Praha is closed but I think its licence is still valid, its owner runs Biopark Štít. Or is any other zoo already closed? I know only that Mořský svět must move out from Výstaviště and still looks for new location. The new zoo licence is for Exotika na ranči Bítovany. Nice gibbon families they keep but rather cramped place overall.
Terarium Praha is the one I meant, I know Mr. Hnízdil has Biopark Štít as well, but if he would like to license it, he needs to start the process again I think...
Is there someone who can please type out (or provide a link) to the official list of 30 licensed Czech. Rep. zoos? Thanks!
Open the file on this link: Seznam zoologických zahrad s licencí Note that, as was stated in comments here, Terarium Praha is already closed and new is Exotika Bítovany.
Some Czech zoos sell special reduced tickets to animal companions (dogs, ferrets, even cats). I have no idea if they count them into their total attendance or not. Does anybody know? In today news, zoo Plzeň announces it expects to get a visitor number 500.000 before year end. It will be for the first time in their 93-years long history and the lucky visitor will get nice surprice. Another zoo that´s already broken their all-time record is Děčín. They passed 130k at the beginning of November. (With new owls, wolverine and ibex enclosures to open early next year, they still have space to grow their numbers. Next bigger project might be leopards.)
I dug up some older data from the years 2000 and 2010 so we can take a look at how zoos developed over last 20/10 years: Year 2000: Slovakia Bojnice - 327 514 Bratislava - 147 353 Košice - 70 485 Spišská Nová Ves - 60 000 Czech Republic Brno - 251 146 Děčín - 69 246 Dvůr Králové - 557 400 Hluboká - 200 712 Hodonín - 132 640 Chleby - N/A Chomutov - 161 906 Jihlava - 182 627 Liberec - 360 947 Olomouc - 358 000 Ostrava - 315 004 Plzeň - 212 900 Praha - 635 019 Ústí - 148 988 Vyškov - 45 872 Zlín - 330 095 Year 2010: Slovakia Bojnice - 282 004 Bratislava - 302 074 Košice - 142 356 Spišská Nová Ves - 74 226 Czech Republic Brno - 238 036 Děčín - 73 117 Dvůr Králové - 454 476 Hluboká - 198 897 Hodonín - 136 113 Chleby - N/A Chomutov - 216 396 Jihlava - 226 809 Liberec - 309 824 Olomouc - 368 543 Ostrava - 328 621 Plzeň - 460 841 Praha - 1 185 320 Ústí - 135 064 Vyškov - 160 244 Zlín - 442 549
Zoo Tábor-Větrovy had 83k last year. It has already surpassed it in 2019 so they steer for a new record.
We now have the first confirmed number for 2019 - Final attendance for Prague this year is 1 456 526 visitors. Also, Plzen eventually did manage to hit the 500k mark
This is in fact a new attendance record, the best year so far was 2016 with 1 448 353 visitors. Still, a slight letdown. 2019 was an exceptionally good year - ideal zoo-going weather, local wages grow 7% for third year straight and tourism booms. Hopefully next year it can break 1,5 mio finally, with Australia opening in March and two elephant calves due in spring.
Some other zoos have announced their attendance for 2019. I add percentage change compared to last year. Slovakia: Zoo Bojnice - 401.586 (minus 0,6%) Zoo Košice - 254.000 (plus 13%) and new all-time record Czech republic: Zoo Brno - 331.298 (plus 0,4%) Zoo Hodonín - 195.403 (plus 13%) new record Safari Park Dvůr Králové - 541.902 (plus 6%) Zoo Jihlava - 346.600 (plus 4%) new record Zoo Liberec - 402 193 (plus 9%) Zoo Olomouc - 348.209 (minus 2,5%) Zoo Ostrava - 580.091 (plus 8%) new record Zoo Zlín-Lešná - 682.826 (plus 5%) new record
Why need to build such amusement DinoParks? Every zoo has some depressed, lonely animals in small cages...Why not spend zoos that much money on them?