Tourists going wild for zoos in east China, helps spur comeback

Tourists are once again flocking to zoos in east China's Jiangsu Province where new and diversified business projects are expected to help boost income.

In Nanjing Hongshan Forest Zoo, there are more than 3,000 animals from all over the world. The zoo director says they were hit hard by the pandemic last year, but was optimistic after seeing the number of tourists who visited during the Spring Festival this year.

"As for the whole industry, during the Spring Festival this year, the number [of tourists] was basically back to the same level as the same period in 2019. And the Nanjing Hongshan Forest Zoo has seen a significant surge compared with 2019," said Shen Zhijun, director of Nanjing Hongshan Forest Zoo.

According to Shen, more than 80 percent of their income comes from ticket sales, which is common in the zoo industry here, and for other zoos in the area.

Ji Xiaowen, deputy chief of the Suzhou Shangfangshan Forest Zoo says they suffered losses of more than 10 million yuan (about 1.5 million U.S. dollars) last year, which forced the zoo to shut-down for more than 50 days.

Now, Ji says, they are looking for new ways to attract visitors. Projects to develop animal science courses, cultural products, and upgrades to the restaurants and zoo tours are expected to be put into place.

Ji says by changing some of their business models, they can avoid relying exclusively on ticket sales for revenue.

"Since the outbreak of the pandemic, we found that we were relying greatly on ticket sales revenues, which cannot continue. Now we are thinking about how to improve other ways for consumers to enjoy our projects and increase income that way as well," said Ji.

Besides improvements for the zoo animals and in-person tourists, zoos are also holding more live-stream events to reach tourists online.