The economic situation is making itself shown in zoos: Tacoma zoo closing some days to save money - Breaking News From Oregon & Portland - Oregonlive.com Zoo Atlanta to end panda cam, cites economy | ajc.com Now?s not time to ask for money, zoo panel says : News-Record.com : Greensboro, North Carolina I thought I read a release today that the Audubon Zoo and Aquarium of the Americas were laying off employees, but I can't find the link.
It will be interesting to see the real effect. The Economic Collapse has on zoo attendance. As l would suggest it will have little if any effect. We could even see a increase in attendance. As for multi million dollar American enclosures. Can't see them happening. l would be very concerned about projects, that have just brocken ground as well. The worst is yet to come. The middle of next year as Rupert Murdoch has suggested will be the bottom we hope!!
Not even close. On average, US zoos receive 40% or more of their operating expense dollars from taxpayer sources. The picture is grim, to say the least. One of the biggest building booms for zoos in American history happened at the end of the Great Depression, part of a huge public works program intended to bolster the economy. A similar program is being discussed as a partial solution to the current crisis. So maybe some of those "multi-million dollar American enclosures" will indeed be built.
I think "destination resorts" like Disneyland have more to worry about than zoo's. Zoo's are more regional attractions. For example, people will fly in from all over to go to Disneyland, while a zoo is something people will do while in that city. So, people who are coming to the city for other purposes will still decide to visit a zoo, and people who live in a city will decide to go to the zoo instead of going away for vacation. My boss relayed that observation the other day.
In Britain i think there may even be a positive effect of all this doom and gloom. People are goign on holiday abroad less and less and so are goignt o be attracted to more local attractions ie zoos and safari parks. however i don't beleive zoos will risk (or have the money to risk) building large spectacular exhibits
Reduakari has brought up an intriguing point concerning the public works programs that arose during the Great Depression of the 1930's. After the crash in 1929 there was an abundance of work for the unemployed during the following decade, and even wonderful creations like the Sydney Harbour Bridge in Australia were constructed with the help of idle members of the public. The Toledo Zoo in Ohio is a great example of a zoo that benefitted from the struggling economy, as there are still a handful of buildings there that were all built in the 1930's by the WPA.
This was going to be a short reply to a comment on another thread (five sisters zoo). But I started to go off thread very quickly and started waffling! But Im interested in how others feel about what the current economic climates affect will be on UK zoos and what information people have about new developments happening/ not now going to happen. I think that most well managed zoos (big or small) should ,as businesses, not suffer. The 'credit crunch' provides a convenient excuse to be rolled out by many mismanaged failing businesses. Zoos are a relatively cheap and accessible family day out. With the pound having fallen so dramatically against the euro cheap foreign family holidays are no longer so cheap. If anything a typical 2.2 family are more likely to increase the number of day trips next year, to places like zoos, and cut back on holidays abroad. In comparison to other forms of entertainment, zoos in general provide good value for money. Just compare prices of going to see a professional football match with your son and his two friends or taking the family to a popular London show. The problems will come for the more badly financially managed. Those that spent heavily during the good times (living beyond your means) or bought at the top of the market and those that rely on heavy outside backing may find a dwindling source of funding. I cant imagine the market value of many zoos rising with house and land prices falling so quickly. Its not bad luck if you buy a run down zoo in the middle of nowhere, borrow/invest lots of money to purchase and try to make improvements and see its market value fall. A well managed business predicts the future and develops accordingly. Clever investors buy at the bottom and sell at the top. Where I predict we will see the affects is in the slowdown of new developments. A number of the big UK zoos (Bristol, Edinburgh, Chester, etc) have grand plans and many more smaller zoos will have there own plans for the future. How will these be affected? how much were they relying on borrowing from banks etc and other outside investment? how much do they have in the bank saved for future development? how profitable are they? how viable were these projects in the first place? And many more questions. How many unviable projects (dreams) will be sidelined or unprofitable zoos close with the ready made excuse of the ‘credit crunch’. Now could well be a great time to invest for a financially well managed zoo. Suddenly the value of the neighbouring farmland has crashed, those involved in the building industry are looking for work, loan rates to successful businesses are historically low etc.. , the bit of car park you sold off last year at the top of the market can now be bought back at half the price.
I would tend to agree with djaeon's comments about zoos being regional attractions. Our zoo had good attendance figures last season and with our new African exhibit opening this spring we should do well again. We don't get any tax money and must rely of the gate to keep us going. New exhibits are funded by donations from corporations and private individuals--it's the way we've always developed new projects.
This will hit the New York City zoos and aquarium (including the Bronx Zoo) rather hard. The Bronx Zoo funding endangered The up side is that if the State withdraws funding, the Bronx Zoo will no doubt eliminate free Wednesdays.
Why would this be a positive to remove free wednesdays. Surely there are allot of people going on a wed that would not otherwise. As they could not afford it!
Yes, that was not my most compassionate moment. The Free Wednesday crowds are HUGE (in the Summer its hard to get near a viewing area) and a fair percentage are vandals. Almost all damage to the zoo and all stupid actions (like climbing into the lion exhibit) occur on free Wednesdays. The zoo used to be free most days and over time reduced it to the one day a week in exchange for which they continued to get some public funding. They have often wanted to eliminate free days. Perhaps they'll make it once a month or once a season as a compromise.
It's interesting to see that the council of the city of Emmen has agreed last month with the 80 milion euros needed for the move of the zoo. We also can see new projects in Rotterdam (the monumental entrance is now being renovated, and the Rivierahall also is scheduled for renovation) while other project are still ongoing. Amersfoort is building a new elephant barn and enclosure. Ouwehands' Zoo has some small projects (new penguin enclosure). Etc. Nothing looks like there is an economic collapse here.
Thats the thing thou, all those people are going for free, even if they got 10% of the people it usually got through the zoo on a wednesday they would be making more money.
That is not necessarily true as these days a large part of the zoo's income is from catering, shop, extra attractions etc so the more people through the gate the more of this sort of money. Having said that, the only time I visisted the Bronx Zoo was a free Weds in August, and it was totally heaving, with poor views of a lot of animals, and I missed the newly opened Tiger Mountain as there was a mile long queue to get in. With hindsight I would have preferred to go on a paying day.
read the comments on the bottom of the page about the bronx article. how stupid. to be honest, i know its a significant cut in funding, but its New York! its $9million dollars; hardly an amount of money you would turn your nose up at but the shortfall could surely be raised elsewhere. if, on the otherhand, the NSW State Government in Australia said it was slashing its support for Zoos in NSW then it would be cause for panic, because the figure there potentially could run into the tens of millions.
Without the financial worries I would agree with you but many people would use free wednesday's as a cheap day out and not spend much at shops. Atleast this why you get something from the visitors there and with what I heard about Bronx's its a place that most people would love to pay to go in.
In these times raising 9 million is not what it use to be I would guess that there would be allot of concerned depts at BZ. Who is going to recieve a cut back? Free wednesdays is very important! I hope it stays for the few people who genuinely cannot afford to go otherwise!
