With fee hike, Byculla zoo sees drop in visitors, but increase in revenue

Eight Humboldt Penguins, who have been especially brought from South Korea have become a major source of attraction at Veer Jijamata Udyan also popularly known as ‘Byculla zoo.’ As the penguins started to attract crowds to the zoo the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) immediately increased the entry fee, due to which the number of visitors has come down. But, the zoo has earned record breaking revenue, as compared to earlier.

From August 1, 2017, onwards the civic corporation increased the entry fee from Rs 5 to Rs 50. Initially, the proposal was to charge Rs100 each, which was met with strong opposition from all parties and residents alike. Hence, Shiv Sena’s group leader, Yashwant Jadhav of BMC moved an amendment to increase the fee to only Rs 50. Thereafter the proposal was approved with the support of the Congress party.

In June the number of visitors was 1.46lakh and the revenue collected was Rs 8.79lakh. Whereas in August the number of visitors was 76,944, and the revenue collected was Rs 34.15 lakh. In September, the number of visitors was visitors 92,906 and the revenue collected was Rs 40.72 lakh.

According to the data received from the Byculla zoo authorities, in the month of June the number of visitors was 1.46 lakh and the revenue generated out of it was Rs 8.79 lakh. Similarly, in the month of July the number of visitors was 1.14 lakh and revenue collection was Rs 8.13 lakh. But after August the number of visitors subsequently started decreasing and has come down from one lakh to merely 76,944 and in September also the numbers of visitors did not cross one lakh and remained only up to 92,906. However, the revenue collection earned by the zoo during these two months of fee hike in August and September is much higher than the previous months. In August itself, the zoo earned Rs 34.15 lakh while in September the revenue generation was record breaking Rs40.72lakh.

As per the claims made by the BMC officer the fee hike has not affected the revenue of the zoo but rather increased it three-fold. He said, "Earlier, unwanted visitors were more. But due to increase in entry fee the number of unwanted visitors has decreased."