Zoo Tourism: What Actually Is a Zoo?

Nekolný Lukáš () and Fialová Dana ()
Additional contact information
Nekolný Lukáš: Department of Social Geography and Regional Development, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
Fialová Dana: Department of Social Geography and Regional Development, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic

Czech Journal of Tourism, 2018, vol. 7, issue 2, 153-166

Abstract: Zoos are one of the most visited tourist attractions worldwide - we should perceive them, therefore, not only as places where animals are kept, but also as places frequented by large numbers of people. This is why we talk of zoo tourism. However, there are different definitions of a zoo. This wide range of possible approaches to what actually the zoo is poses a major methodological problem for the research analysis as well as for the zoo management and related legislation. Zoos are historically and socially determined. We can talk not only about the evolution of zoos but also about the co-evolution of zoos alongside many types of zoos. Nowadays, there is no doubt that there is a large number of modern and naturalistic zoos oriented on conservation, but there are also many zoos designed as popular animal-based attractions where animals live in unsuitable conditions. The principal aim of this article is to introduce and discuss problematic approaches to what zoos are and to suggest a use of a wider zoo definition.

Keywords: tourism; tourist attraction; animal-based attraction; zoo; zoo typology (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Z3 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.1515/cjot-2018-0008 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:vrs:cjotou:v:7:y:2018:i:2:p:153-166:n:3

DOI: 10.1515/cjot-2018-0008

Access Statistics for this article

Czech Journal of Tourism is currently edited by Jiri Vystoupil

More articles in Czech Journal of Tourism from Sciendo
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Peter Golla ().