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Understanding the commercial challenges of zoos and wildlife parks in 2026
What 31 UK zoo and wildlife attractions told us about spend per head, food and beverage, retail, paid experiences and membership.
- Format
- PDF role briefing
- Reading time
- 10 minutes
- Published
- September 2026
- Author
- Bryan Hoare
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What’s inside
Seven challenges, the evidence behind each one, what good looks like, and questions for your next review.
01
Spend per head
76% say increasing revenue per visitor is critical or very important in 2026.
02
Food, beverage and retail
Tackling the queue that loses sales and the shop visitors walk past.
03
Paid experiences and membership
Selling capacity-limited experiences and turning recruitment into renewal.
04
Loyalty and the commercial case
Only 2 of 31 are very confident their tools support repeat visits and loyalty.
Who it’s for
Who should read
this report
Written for the people who own the commercial numbers and need the visit to work harder for revenue.
- Commercial directors
- Heads of commercial
- Catering managers
- Retail managers
- Membership leads
- Finance partners