Measurement of visitors' satisfaction with public zoos in Korea using importance-performance analysis

•Convenient and safe viewing environment was important to zoo visitors.•Zoo visitors were satisfied with the price of admission and safety.•The least satisfactory zoo attributes were related to animal welfare and education.•Improving zoo environment and animal welfare was important for overall satisfaction.

Understanding the demands and satisfaction levels of zoo visitors becomes indispensable to sustain a flow of visitors in the increasingly competitive tourism market. This research assessed the importance and performance of the service and facilities attributes in order to measure visitor satisfaction using an importance-performance analysis (IPA). Results of the questionnaire survey of 697 visitors at six public zoos in Korea indicated that convenience and safety in observing animals were important to visitors, and children were a particularly significant motivator for zoo visits. Although attributes related to animal welfare and information-seeking had low importance and low performance in the IPA results, they were identified as the key determinants affecting overall satisfaction in the regression analysis. In order to enhance visitors' satisfaction levels, more efforts are required to improve zoo environment and animal welfare, in addition to developing diverse educational programs that can maximize the intrinsic nature and quality of zoos.