Lloyd, M, Walsh, ND and Johnson, B (2021) Investigating Visitor Activity on a Safari Drive. Journal of Zoological and Botanical Gardens, 2 (4). pp. 576-585.

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Abstract

Despite increasing studies focusing on the visitor experience in zoological collections, minimal attention has been paid to visitor activity when driving through safari parks. The dwell time of visitors at exhibits within a traditional zoo setting has offered a good method to measure exhibit and species popularity, but studying visitors on a safari drive offers a unique set of challenges, with factors such as road length skewing a basic dwell time measurement. Therefore, the current study proposes that average speed offers a robust means to investigate visitor activity on a safari drive. Average speed was found to be significantly different depending on species exhibited, with primates and felids eliciting slower speeds and bovids and cervids faster speeds. This result broadly mirrors that of traditional zoo studies where primates elicit longer dwell times. Future safari drive studies could help inform decisions made on a safari drive for aspects such a collection planning, drive layout and exhibit design. Harnessing tracking technology, e.g., GPS, alongside more diverse methodologies, such as questionnaires and multi-institutional approaches, would further allow more robust conclusions to be drawn.

Item Type:	Article
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HF Commerce > HF5001 Business H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor > HD28 Management. Industrial Management Q Science > QL Zoology
Divisions:	Biological & Environmental Sciences (from Sep 19)
Publisher:	MDPI AG
SWORD Depositor:	A Symplectic
Date Deposited:	15 Dec 2022 12:04
Last Modified:	15 Dec 2022 12:15
DOI or ID number:	10.3390/jzbg2040041
URI:	https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/18413

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