It's not that "Zootopia" can't afford to go, but "Zoo Madness" is more cost-effective. City Walk hasn't been popular for long, and Zoo Walk, which is a little more stuffy than City Walk, has become popular, and this generation of young people has found a "Disney Flat" experience at the zoo. Queue up to meet the "animal stars", watch them show their sense of relaxation in their homes that simulate the natural environment, and pick up the cute spots before leaving, Zoo Walk is attracting young people with its unique charm.
△ Young people at the Red Hill Forest Zoo Zoo Walk
Seventy percent of young people under the age of 30 are in love with Zoo Walk
During the May Day holiday just past, the average daily visitor flow of Nanjing Hongshan Forest Zoo reached the upper limit of 80,000, which is comparable to that of Shanghai Disneyland. The Beijing Wildlife Park in Daxing, far from the city, has been buzzing lately, with a three-hour queue in the popular Beast Zone, even on a typical weekend. The Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding Research Base, which has a number of top pandas, has attracted a large number of tourists to line up to visit. Since the beginning of this year, the number of visitors on weekdays has been 30,000 to 40,000, which is twice as high as last year's holiday peak.
△ Hongshan Forest Zoo
Not only has the zoo become popular, but the main customer group has changed from children to young people, and Zoo Walk has become a new way for young people to travel. Unlike when they were children, young people value immersive, paradise-like experiences. According to Meituan's online ticket sales data in 2023, nearly 70% of young people under the age of 30 buy zoo tickets; According to the ticketing data of Nanjing Hongshan Forest Zoo, the top Internet celebrity, 70% of tourists in 2019 were ticket-free tourists, that is, the main customer group was the elderly over 60 years old who reached the ticket-free standard, and in 2023, more than 60% of the tourists purchased tickets, of which 60.21% were between 20 and 30 years old, and 29.57% were between 30 and 40 years old.
△ Visitors to the Red Mountain Forest Zoo
Back in 2008, at that time, 37-year-old Shen Zhijun had just become the director of Nanjing Hongshan Forest Zoo, and his son's sentence "I am 10 years old, and I am still naïve to go to the zoo", which triggered his deep thought. "When a child loses his passion for zoos and is bored at the age of 10, we have to ask, what is the real value of zoos?"
△ Children interact with small animals
When he first arrived at the zoo, he constantly looked through professional books to understand the value proposition of zoos at home and abroad. When he visited the park every day, he watched the animals live a "three-no" life: boredom, helplessness, and helplessness, and he was thinking about how to make them live more comfortably in a limited place. The only way to do this is to renovate the venue and improve the living environment for the animals.
Even when the budget was at its tightest, the park did not stop renovating the venue, and the cold cement floor gradually came to life, with trees, ponds, and sand...... Animals have a living environment that conforms to their natural behavior, and they begin to become more and more "wild" and more and more attractive.
Zoos also "make stars", and the more "wild" they are, the better they look
"Although we refuse to perform animals, we can't bear to show animals." Shen Zhijun often said this sentence proudly on major occasions and in various interviews.
△ Flamingos at the Red Hill Forest Zoo
Walking into the Red Mountain Forest Zoo is like visiting an animal's home, it has the freedom to come out to see you, and it also has the freedom to hide, which is also one of the charms of Zoo Walk. If you're lucky, you might be able to see giant pandas tickle trees, tigers bathing in the water to escape the heat, and Cao Bang monkeys rowing on the water...... Let people call it "worth the fare".
In mid-April, many tourists watched an "animal migration" at the Chimelong Safari Park in Guangzhou. On the eve of the rainstorm, the animals that sensed the coming of the heavy rain began to spontaneously run to the inner stadium, the scene was very similar to the African savannah migration, which was not better than going to Kenya Province for 50,000 or 60,000?
When these animals changed from cramped and restless objects to individuals who let themselves fly and "operate" freely, animal stars who were popular among young people were born.
△ The white-faced monk-faced monkey "Dudu" at Hongshan Forest Zoo
In the Hongshan Forest Zoo, each animal has a name and a distinct personality, although the top white-faced monk-faced monkey "Du Du" is "explosive in appearance", but it is a spoiled wife and crazy demon; The beautiful and gentle koala "Jasmine" is mellow and lovely, and she is responsible for her appearance; The serval "Niu Niu", who couldn't control her mouth and couldn't open her legs, lost weight for a year and only lost 8 taels of meat; Hard-working pigs "Tomorrow" often travel, and various venues turn over the ground to work...... On Weibo, Hongshan Forest Zoo was searched no less than 30 times last year, and every once in a while, "conspicuous bags" animals made headlines.
△ Red pandas at Hongshan Forest Zoo
In addition to Hongshan Forest Zoo, Beijing Zoo's "prison break" master panda Menglan, Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding Research Base "super Internet celebrity" Huahua, Linfen Zoo's little tiger milk bean who was "bullied" by a goose, are all animal stars with considerable traffic. And the zoo has also attracted the attention of netizens with these distinctive Internet celebrities, and has attracted a large number of tourists to come to the appointment.
These sincere and relaxed animals don't need to perform, they don't provide emotional value for people, and the business "depends on the mood, isn't it the mental state that young people yearn for?" The Zoo Walk allows young people to find a moment of tranquility in their busy lives and experience the joy of living in harmony with animals.
Zoo Walk has led to the development of zoos as "paradises".
With super popular animal stars, it has become a logical thing to create cultural and creative IP. Taking Hongshan Forest Zoo as an example, the ticket is 40 yuan and the annual card is 80 yuan, but "40 tickets in, 400 peripherals out" has become the standard for many tourists. Some netizens quipped: "No one can walk out of the Red Mountain empty-handed", this powerful ability to carry goods has a fight with the Duffy family of Shanghai Disneyland.
△ The surrounding cultural creativity of Hongshan Forest Zoo
People can't help but "krypton gold", and there is really something around the cultural and creative surroundings of Hongshan Forest Zoo. For example, the "Du Du" blind box highlights the resentment in the eyes of the workers; The little golden snub-nosed monkey shining in the sun incarnates a cultural creation, and the super cute expression of wink makes people can't help but take out their wallets; The pelican with a big mouth that eats everything is also made into a small bag, and the big mouth is the storage space. "Buying our cultural and creative products is actually a practical action for tourists to support and praise the Hongshan Zoo's concept of protecting and caring for animals, respecting life and revering nature." Shen Zhijun said that the small cultural and creative products carry the "Red Mountain Story", opening a window and building a bridge for the public to understand and understand the zoo. It is not only a simple purchase behavior, but also a two-way emotional rush, representing the buyer's physical strength to protect nature and ecology.
In addition, the Zoo Walk is driving the development of zoos into "paradises". The environment in the Hongshan Forest Zoo has been upgraded on a large scale, with abundant greenery, adding a lot of interesting animal sculptures that can be checked in and taking pictures, and planning a venue that can host camping and small concerts. In addition, cross-border co-branding also provides more consumption scenarios for citizens and tourists, and nearly 20 co-branded cooperative brands with Hongshan Forest Zoo within a year.
Nantong Wildlife Park also has a treehouse-style resort hotel in the park, where you can dine with giraffes, zebras, ostriches, and red pandas may visit your room at any time, which is full of immersive experience. The attractions of Beijing Wild Animal Park are purely developed by tourists themselves, and putting oranges on capybaras, getting close to red pandas and being caught by pelicans have become the three most popular check-in items.
Shen Zhijun said: "Zoos can't be like zoos to be younger." Today's zoo not only meets the needs of visitors to see animals, but also provides more entertainment and service experiences, turning into a more trendy, fashionable and energetic life scene.
Modern Express/Modern + Reporter Zhang Ran/Wen Shi Xianghui/Photo