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When we first came into contact with English, we began to know the word zoo, maybe we hadn't been to the real zoo at that time, but we had seen monkeys, elephants, giraffes and other animals in the illustrations of English books.
It can be said that in the world of children, the zoo is very mysterious, but it is also full of fun, because children will always beg their parents to take them to the zoo to see elephants, pandas and tigers because of the knowledge of these animals.
However, from the data of recent years, it seems that the development of zoos in the current environment is not optimistic, and a large part of this is because of the new crown epidemic, because zoos mainly rely on tourists to make profits.
In the years of the epidemic, everyone had to respond to the national policy and could not go to places where people gathered, let alone zoos, and even dine-in was not allowed, so in those years, zoos encountered unprecedented difficulties.
If it was a short-term situation, it was fine, but until the news of the country's announcement of the lifting of epidemic prevention and control was released, everyone couldn't believe that the epidemic was really over, and in the shadow of those years, the zoo seemed to be shrouded in a huge shadow.
From "can't afford feed" to "lose hundreds of millions", the risk of zoo closure is also increasing. At present, the zoo industry is facing an unprecedented crisis, so many worries are, in the future, will the wave of zoo closures come?
We can talk about how much the pandemic has affected zoos, first of all, the outbreak of the pandemic has triggered a deep contraction in tourism, which has caused zoos' revenues to plummet. As a result of the drastic drop in visitor numbers, the zoo's main source of income has also suffered.
And many zoos simply can't sustain regular operating costs in the absence of visitors, let alone investments in new construction and expansion. Some zoos have even had to lay off staff to keep costs down in order to survive.
In addition, the outbreak of the epidemic has also led to global traffic control and logistics lags, which directly affects the procurement and breeding of zoos. For example, some domestic safari parks are unable to buy feed.
As a result, they had to donate materials to the private sector to meet the food needs of animals, and other zoos began to raise funds for the damaged ecological environment through online live broadcasts and online sales.
On the other hand, the zoo was once one of the important symbols of the development of domestic tourism, and it was a place where both adults and children would choose to go in their free time.
Although the epidemic is over, the momentum of those years is still there, coupled with the economic downturn in the general environment, the income of many zoos has dropped significantly, which directly leads to losses.
Some small zoos have even been losing money for a long time due to factors such as high operating costs and relatively few visitors. Even if the environment has improved now, their losses have not improved much.
According to the data we found on the Internet, as of the end of September 2020, there were more than 100 safari parks in Jiangsu Province that were operating at a loss. Among them, 80% of the zoos lost more than 10 million yuan, and some even lost 100 million yuan.
It can be seen how serious the loss situation is, and in order to recover some losses, many zoos have to close some venues and reduce tourist routes. But even so, there are still many zoos that cannot afford to lose money and are facing the threat of closure.
In addition to the challenges posed by the pandemic and the economic downturn, zoos also face a range of internal and external constraints. The first is the restriction imposed by the relevant regulations. Domestic regulations on health safety and wildlife protection are becoming more and more stringent.
Zoos face increasing compliance requirements and scrutiny. The second is the influence of public opinion pressure. Many zoos have aroused public opinion doubts due to suspected animal cruelty, which directly affects the willingness and image of tourists to visit.
In particular, some people will exaggerate the cruelty of animals in the zoo, so that some people will retreat even if they want to see it. And now the combination of the digital economy and tourism has dealt a blow to the development of zoos.
Because of the development of digital tourism, more people can see the world at home, not only do not need to run around, but also do not need to spend so much money to experience the feeling of on-site travel, and many people recognize this way.
At the same time, zoos also need to improve their capabilities and operating models in many aspects. On the one hand, zoos need to continue to improve their technical and operational capabilities, strengthen innovation and technological construction, so as to improve their attractiveness to visitors.
On the other hand, zoos need to focus on protecting the ecological environment and wildlife to create a green and sustainable economic development model. Zoos were originally created to protect wildlife and the environment, but now they face serious survival problems.
The road to the zoo is not all smooth sailing, and it requires a constant pursuit of innovation and development to meet the challenges of the external environment. In the future, zoos will need to remain flexible and innovative, and adopt a more technological and green approach to enhance their competitiveness and market adaptability.
At the same time as the closure of zoos occurs, it is also necessary to pay attention to the ecological environment, animal protection and other issues involved, so as to arouse the attention and attention of the society. Only in this way can we fundamentally solve the problems faced by the zoo industry in competition and market change.
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