Ostrava’s zoo welcomed its 600 000th visitor on 26 December
In 2022, the number of annual visitors to Ostrava’s Zoological Garden and Botanical Park surpassed 600 000 for the first time – with the record falling just a couple of days before the end of the year. This year (2023), visitor numbers passed the 600 000 mark two days earlier than in 2022. Will the zoo set a new record in 2023?
The record-breaking visitor Ondřej Vašut with his daughter. Photo: Ivo Firla
The opening weeks of 2023 were very promising for the zoo, as the unusually warm weather attracted almost 14 000 visitors in the first month – a record number for January. However, the following months were relatively cold, and this pushed visitor numbers down. The situation improved in the summer, and in both June and July the zoo received record numbers of visitors, enabling it to start “chasing” the record set in 2022. The 2022 total was finally overtaken in early September, when the zoo welcomed its 500 000th visitor of 2023.
The 600 000th visitor – Ondřej Vašut from Ostrava-Radvanice – came to the zoo on 26 December 2023. It was the second visit of the year for Mr. Vašut and his daughter – whose mother had stayed at home to relax after the hectic Christmas festivities. Besides enjoying a wonderful experience, the Vašuts also took home a commemorative certificate and a gift pack with souvenirs from the zoo.
The zoo’s director Jiří Novák expressed his satisfaction: “We’re delighted that such huge numbers of people enjoy visiting us, and we’d like to thank all our visitors for their support. They are our partners in running the zoo, and they help to support us in our mission to protect many rare and endangered species of animals and plants. As part of our ‘Three crowns from the ticket price’ programme, we’re helping to fund conservation projects throughout the world. When large numbers of people visit us, that means we can contribute more funding to nature conservation.”