Most visited zoo by Zoochatters

I've wondered for a while what zoo in the world has the honour of being graced by the most Zoochat members. On this site, there are a few zoos that are covered thoroughly but often they are not the most popular with the general public and vice versa. As we close in on 10,000 (9,649 as I type this) members, it'd be interesting to find out which zoo has been visited by the most members and what sort of circumstances influence this.

Some of the factors that come immediately to my mind could be:

>Collection - A unique or rare species might attract more Zoochatters than would entice an average visitor. Small collections with a few noteworthy specimens (e.g. RSCC in its heydey) might be higher on this list than a poll of the general public.

>Location and Accessibility - Zoos that are out of the way or hard to reach by public transport aren't going to get as many visitors that are passing by and will rely on people going out of their way to visit. Additionally, zoos in popular transit cities might get visitors who've taken an extended stopover than a zoo in a city that has to be travelled to.

>Locality of Zoochatters - The UK, USA, Australia, and a few other European countries seem to make up most of the traffic on this website so I wouldn't be surprised if any Asian, African, and South American zoos don't make it.


I've tried to stick to the zoos that I think are likely candidates but definitely suggest more and I'd love to hear what other factors you think would determine this.

 

Chester is the zoo I have visited the most but that's down how much of a brilliant zoo it is and I have a lot of memories of the place.

 

I understand that,but I'm only offering an opinion from my side as I do know a lot of people who do visit Chester.That's just my two cents though.

 

I guess it would be Chester, as many members on zoochat is in UK.Chester zoo is arguably the best zoo in UK,and one of the best in Europe. Also, I think chester have the most photo on zoochat.

 

I am not so sure it will be Chester, London might have a good chance to as that one is visited by Ukers and tourists alike, whereas Chester is visited mostly by the UK people...

 

I think there are some historic zoos in Europe that are sites of pilgrimage for many zoo fans, the likes of Jersey, Hamburg, Jardin des plantes and Schönbrunn are must-see zoos for many.

 

Maybe maybe not Chester has more and more foreign visitors,also you seem to be forgetting Chester is a major tourist centre,and has alot of major centres close by that many foreign tourists visit!

 

True but based on Belgian and Dutch zoofora, a lot of people seem to have been to London and only very few to Chester as well. And Chester may be a major tourist centre on a national scale, but the amount of tourists in London is just many times higher...

 

I'm surprised that there are so many more votes for Berlin Zoo than for Tierpark, I would have thought that numbers would be roughly equal.

 

Not incredibly illogical that they are, though. I suspect not everyone has time to arrange trips over multiple days to berlin, so if you only have one day you have to make a choice.

Don't forget that Berlin zoo gets around 3x more visitors anually (3,3 Million vs 1,2 Million last year), is a lot easier to reach because it's right in the middle of the city, has a collection most visitors (normal people and zoochatters alike) would be more inclined to see, and is actually comfortably doable within one day!

 

London Zoo is not surprisingly in the lead so far. I have been to six of the ten on the list.

 

I'm amongst those who have only been to the Zoo and not the Tierpark. There is just too much to see in that city and I had to make a decision.

@Chlidonias I did consider the disparity between the number of European Zoochatters vs American Zoochatters but Americans (generally, not just on Zoochat) travel a lot more within their own country so I thought that might make up for it. If it weren't for the 10 options limit on polls I'd have liked to include a few more Asian and Australian zoos.

 

For example?

 

Although it won't be high on this list, I think Beijing Zoo gets around six million visitors a year.

 

But there aren't many zoochatters that visit Beijing.

 

Which is why it won't be high on this list.