Abstract:
The zoological gardens founded from the 19th century onwards, claimed not only to educate
and entertain their audiences, but also to serve science by providing exotic animals. Zoos
nowadays have always generated a mixed feelings when it comes to education and equity
among all creatures. While the zoo industry is starting to blossom, some may argue that the
idea of keeping animal in the cage may have been divorced from our thoughts in the first
place which is to educate and protect. As more natural environments are affected by
development, zoos represent one type of urban open space that is increasingly recognized as a
place for visitors to reconnect with nature. Millions of people visit zoos on an annual basis
but we know very little about zoo visitor satisfaction with animal visibility; a lack of animal
visibility may negatively impact a zoo visit. The primary purpose of this study was to
examine the effect of animal visibility on visitor experience. Specific objective of this study
was understand the relationship between visitor experience and exhibit design. The
researcher carried out an extensive literature review to provide conceptual background of the
study and formulated a conceptual model. Simple random sampling method was used and
selected 100 visitors for the sample of this study and data were collected through
questionnaire. Associating SPSS 22.0 software and based on univariate analysis and bivariate
techniques the data were analyzed. The results of this study suggest that there is a significant
relationship between animal visibility and visitor experience. Based on that results indicate
exhibit design significantly influence for visibility and visitor experience.
