Zoo tours are a great way to share your love of animals with visitors. They offer a unique opportunity to get close to exotic species and experience their natural habitats.
Zoo tours are becoming very popular. There are 10 to 12 thousand zoos around the world, from Utah's Hogle Zoo to New York's Bronx Zoo, attracting up to 700 million tourists each year!
"According to the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, over 181 million people visit U.S. zoos and aquariums it accredits every year ... Globally, 700 million people visit zoos and aquariums every year, or about 10 percent of the world population."-White Paper, Humane Conservation
The zoo tourism industry enjoys a large market!
However, running a successful zoo tour business requires a lot of time and effort. Many companies struggle to handle multiple clients, the selection process, and managing bookings at the same time.
This is where reliable booking software comes in handy.
You will surely find a sea of options when you research booking software. But, always consider your zoo business goals.
What features should you look for in Zoo ticketing and management software?
Perhaps you need one with Raiser's Edge integration, membership offers, point-of-sale solutions, or any feature to help you better manage your team, members, and company. Not to mention, improve the guest experience.
Zoo Management Software vs. Zoo Tour Booking Software
Many confuse the difference between a zoo software and a zoo tour booking software. In a way, they have a similar purpose- management.
But how do this two software differ? Consider what purpose each serves:
Zoo Management Software helps a zoo company have a holistic view of the animals under their keeping. Usually, it manages the record-keeping of animal data, including its health and well-being and breeding programs.
Zoo management software examples:
Zoo Tour Booking Software, on the other hand, helps zoo tour operators manage their zoo tour bookings from online to offline and through multi-sales channels. Its purpose-built is solely for managing tours, bookings, guests, revenue, growth, and integrations with different service providers in the tourism industry.
Tour booking software examples:
If you want to grow your zoo operations, you surely need a tour booking software or system to grow more direct bookings and understand your market better. What features should you look for in a zoo tour booking system?
8 Must-Have Features of a Zoo Software
We have compiled the top 8 features that you should look for in a tour booking and management software for zoos.
1. Timed Ticketing
Timed Ticketing allows you to create session times with capacity management. This feature allows you to control the flow of guests, so you can avoid overcrowding and ensure that everyone has a pleasant experience.
- Keep your guests comfortable during their visit
- Manage and control the flow of people through your zoo
- Maximize guest experience
- Enhance the visitor experience
2. General Passes
When it comes to zoo admission passes, there are many different options to choose from.
Some guests prefer the flexibility of being able to visit whenever they like, within a certain time frame. Others may prefer a more structured approach. Perhaps they may opt for passes that give them access only on specific days or for a certain number of visits within a set period of time.
3. Tour Packages
Make it easy for your guests to purchase a truly memorable experience by creating tour packages that include different products.
For example, you could offer a package that includes admission to the zoo, a map of the grounds, and a souvenir guidebook. Or, you could put together a package that includes admission to the zoo, as well as tickets to ride on the safari train or take part in a behind-the-scenes tour.
By offering different options, you can make it easy for your guests to find the most suitable package for their needs. And by bundling together different products, you can provide a high value that will keep your guests coming back for more.
4. Gift Cards/Vouchers
With tour gift cards, guests can share their loved ones' access to some of the most beautiful and exotic animals in the world. From tigers and lions to giraffes and elephants, there's something for everyone at a zoo.
A successful system offers upselling of gift cards or vouchers through a digital delivery system. Which also allows quick and easy sharing of gift cards.
Gift cards and vouchers let your guests share the adventure with their loved ones. Think of it as another marketing strategy for selling tours through your guests.
5. Cashless Wallet
One effective way of enhancing the guest experience is by enabling cashless transactions.
A cashless system would allow guests to purchase credit that could be stored on a card or wristband, making spending within your wildlife park more convenient.
There are many benefits to such a cloud-based system, including reduced transaction times and improved security. In addition, a cashless system would allow you to better track spending patterns and make targeted offers.
6. Mobile Check-In App
A mobile check-in app enables you to offer a more personal tour experience while improving operational efficiency.
By checking in guests through their mobile devices, your staff can quickly and easily identify who is on the tour, where they are, and what needs to be done next.
- Collect key information about your guests
- Improve the tour experience for future guests
- Better target marketing efforts
- Increased ROI on marketing campaigns
7. Sell Tickets with Point of Sale (POS) Systems
Point-of-sale (POS) systems are a very convenient way to sell tickets for your zoo.
With a POS system, you can process transactions quickly and easily, making it more convenient for your tourists to purchase. In addition, a POS system can help you track sales and better understand your customers' spending habits.
Inventory management also comes easier with POS systems. Track on-site and online sales at the same time and enable live ticket inventory right on your booking widget on your own booking website.
8. Inventory Management
In any business, efficient management and updating of inventory are essential to success. This is especially true for tour operators, who need to carefully track saleable time slots, tour packages, and marketing data.
- Reduce backend tasks and improve business overview
- See which time slots are available and what tour packages are selling
- Get a better understanding of marketing efforts through analytics
- Make accurate data-driven decisions to grow your business
TicketingHub in Zoo Action
As any tour operator knows, managing tickets and reservations can be a time-consuming and complex task. With TicketingHub, tour operators can streamline back-office tasks, and customer relationship management, and sell more tickets online.
TicketingHub management software is a cloud-based platform that offers a wide array of features that tour operators need.
- Centralize all your data in one place
- Automate ticketing and pricing processes
- Easily create promotions and loyalty programs
- Get integrated reporting on revenue and performance
In addition, TicketingHub's easy-to-use interface makes it incredibly easy for operators to sell tickets online. With TicketingHub, tour operators can increase efficiency, sell more tickets, and provide a better customer experience.
Grow Your Zoo!
Are you a tour operator looking for an online booking system that can ease back-office management, marketing, and check-in? TicketingHub was created with you in mind.
- Lightweight Booking Widget for every website and browser (Including Google Chrome, Safari, Opera)
- Best Customer Service
- Automation Tools
- 5-minute Account Setup
- Ability to manage employees and tours easily at a glance with a single dashboard
Focus on selling tours and deliver quality and commitment with optimized ticket services! Our platform has all the powerful features you need to streamline your business and make it easier for customers to find and purchase tickets. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help grow your tour business.
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