Dudley Zoo reports number of visitors up on 2007

Feb 25 2009 by Steve Bradley, Birmingham Mail

VISITORS have defied the credit crunch to visit Dudley Zoological Gardens in their droves over half term.

The award-winning tourist attraction at Castle Hill, Dudley, welcomed 7,000 paying customers during the week – some travelling from as far away as Cheshire, Oxfordshire and Lancashire.

While that figure was down on the 8,000 who visited last February in the school holidays, bosses are delighted that so many defied economic gloom and the bad weather.

Chief executive Peter Suddock said the 2009 figure were up by 1,000 on the 2007 attendance, and that the larger number for last year was due to an exceptionally warm spell.

He said: “We had a fabulous week and it was great to see so many people enjoying a day out at a much-loved family attraction.

“We also had lots of inquiries about our five-year programme for changes on the site and much interest in our new big cat experience, Lion Ridge, which is due to open at Easter.”

Half-term events included a Darwin Trail with ten animals the naturalist would have seen on his HMS Beagle voyage of discovery, plus a range of Creature Features and talks and feeds.