Posted June 29, 2020 in News
What’s changing from 4th July?
Following the Government announcement on the 23rd June, from the 4th July Colchester Zoo will be making more areas accessible to visitors.
We’re pleased to confirm that from Saturday 4th July we will be re-opening all of our indoor buildings with 1m social distancing. To help us keep these indoor buildings open safely we are kindly asking and advising our visitors to wear masks when visiting these indoor areas particularly where social distancing is 1m.
As we are opening up more areas within the park from the 4th July we have the capacity to allow more visitors into the zoo. Therefore from Saturday 4th July, everyday after 4.00pm, Zoo Passholders can visit the zoo without pre-booking a time slot. Please note entry is dependant on capacity within the park. We may be required to work on a 1-out 1-in system as a safety precaution and we therefore cannot guarantee entry if capacity does not allow.
We will also be reopening the outdoor adventure play areas for children to enjoy however it is vitally important that all children are supervised and social distancing is enforced by guardians. A new cleaning routine will be implemented to ensure the play areas are thoroughly cleaned and disinfected regularly throughout the day. Please note that during the early stages of reopening the outdoor play areas some may remain closed whilst essential maintenance work takes place.
Our Social Distance Route remains in place and we kindly ask visitors to follow this route to ensure everyone has a safe and enjoyable visit.
Saturday 4th July will also see the return of our Lost Madagascar Express Road Train following the installation of perspex screens onto the carriages to ensure visitor safety. The train will not run at full capacity and will not stop at our lemur walkthrough enclosure until further notice. We’re pleased to be able to offer this experience back to our visitors despite it not being quite the same as before.
Colchester Zoo has now been open for just over 1 week now with reduced admission prices. With more of the zoo reopening therefore overheads due to increase with both staff and running costs we have had to review our admission prices. Our next release of tickets is due on the 1st July for visit dates from the 10th – 20th July, these tickets will have a slight increase although they are still highly reduced compared to our standard gate admission. From the 10th July prices will be as follows;
| Ticket Type | Price from 10th July | Usual Gate Price | Saving |
| Adult (16 – 59) | £21.00 | £24.99 | £3.99 |
| Child (3 – 15) | £15.00 | £18.00 | £3.00 |
| Senior (60+) | £19.00 | £23.00 | £4.00 |
Following reopening we have welcomed a huge reduction of visitors to what we usually receive during this time of year to enable social distancing. The reduction of visitors of course means a reduction of income and our visitor income is what we rely on to remain open and to continue the vital conservation work that we pride ourselves in. Therefore, this price increase is a necessity to ensure we can continue as our fight for survival is far from over.
Every penny of income we receive is always reinvested into the zoo, improving both animal and visitors’ facilities but also participating or funding conservation projects not just here at the zoo but across the world.
With an expected recession on the horizon, we also expect a large reduction of sales within both our catering and retail outlets therefore we feel the negative financial impact will continue until we can welcome more visitors back to the zoo and the economy is healthy again.
This expected loss of income means survival will be a challenge. We will need to be very careful with our spending but also ensure we build reserves should the Pandemic return we will be able to cope better.
This is why your support is critical now more than ever to help Colchester Zoo survive.
Your amazing support and donations whilst the zoo was closed raised over £335k which includes both the Colchester Zoo Operating Fund & Action for the Wild donations received. This amount of funding kept us being able to provide the high quality of care to our animals for just over 2 weeks whilst we were closed to visitors. We cannot find the words to be able to thank each and every person for their amazing support, we really are beyond grateful.
We’re not out of the woods yet, despite being open now our fight continues and so if you are able to continue to lend us a helping hand towards our survival please come along and enjoy a visit if you can or donate online to our Operating Fund. Alternatively, you may like to book an animal experience or adopt an animal, perhaps you may like to become a Zoo Passholder – all of the income from these products are also a huge help towards our future.
We’ll keep you updated with any further changes as and when we receive further Government guidance. In the meantime, we hope that we are able to welcome you along soon for a safe and enjoyable day out exploring the wonders of wildlife.
