The NSW opposition enviromental spokesman says that Taronga zoo is struggling to attract visitors. Taronga rejects claims it's struggling The zoo denies this but says that visitor numbers are down at Dubbo, possibly as a result of increased fuel prices.
it will be interesting to review the 2006/2007 annual report and see what impact the elephants being imported has on attendance. i live 1.5 hours away from taronga and there are heaps of people i know who have been to the zoo this month just to see the elephants. people who wouldnt normally go. when melbourne opened its trail of the elephants it experienced a peak attendance so im guessing something similar may happen to taronga, particularly in the summer holidays. but western plains is another matter. lets face it. to drive there is 5 hours from sydney and and 3 hours from here, the hunter region. people are moving from the bush to the city, petrol prices are up, domestic tourism is down, and the west is in the grip of a drought. if only it was a bit closer to sydney or the coast...i actually think western plains zoo might be facing hard times in the future
yeah thats right glyn, they had record levels and from what i believe they have managed to remain pretty high too. this is something melbournes is much better than taronga at doing, promoting itself. whilst no doubt, sydneys zoo has had a huge amount of exposure regarding the new elephant exhibit, melbourne is great at developing a huge amount of community support behind it. it may have something to do with the fact that unlike taronga, who has a proportionally high number of foriegn tourists, melbourne seems to get a fair degree of locals. i remeber a taronga keeper telling me, without any knowledge of where i was from, how he wished taronga had just half the amount of public support melbourne has. when trail of the elephants opened, their where advertisements on TV and large billboard posters all down the main mall in the city. it helped that people had waited a good decade for their new exhibit, and that they were excited not just to see the new enclosure, but the zoos orginal elephants happy inside it.. in a way i'm supprised that melbourne hasn't seemed to learn from its success' here. despite a bit of media attention there has been no advertising campaign, announcing either the arrival of the new elephants, or more importantly the opening of the new orang-utan exhibit. the orangs alone could drum up almost as much excitement as the gorillas did when their rainforest opened. it helps if zoos promote themselves more like a business does, with an emphasis on it being "your zoo"... afterall, it is the public that pays for them...
support for zoos any wonder theres so much support for melbourne-its a great zoo and desserves it. but id have to say taronga and perth enjoy high levels of community support too. zoo friends memberships and volunteers are one way of measuring success, but so too is corporate sponsorship which im pretty sure taronga would lead the way with. but when it boils down to promotions and advertising, i agree that the zoos could do more. i suppose one of the reasons why melbourne zoo hasnt advertised on tv so much is that it already draws a strong domestic attendance and i would guess that tv advertising is less effective at attracting foreign visitors, which they would want to expand. i have the figures for taronga and wpz attendance for a number of years,and for taronga in particular foriegn visitors are a significant target market. obviously this is why taronga was threatened by sydney wildlife world. but when it comes to advertising on tv for taronga ive seen a new ad campaing fronted by richard morecroft for the asian elephants. western plains sprukes itself alot more-there are always ads in the holidays. but the last ads i saw for taronga zoo and not just the elephants were years ago now, they seem to rely on free media'. there most recent ad campaign was for the snow leopard cubs and it ran in all the major newspapers. on the whole though, i reckon foreign zoos would be jealous of the high level of community support our zoos receive...
yeah you may be right. i know that at least here in the inner city, coffee-drinking, trendai crowd, things like zoo twilights are suprisingly popular. when the elephants opened EVERYONE i know went and then i heard this taronga keeper have a whinge and i thought "yeah melbourne is pretty community orientated"....
