ASSESSMENT OF MARKETING STRATEGIES AND TOURISM DEVELOPMENT OF FUNAAB ZOO PARK

This study examines the effectiveness of marketing strategies at FUNAAB Zoo Park and their contribution to tourism development, visitor patronage, and satisfaction. Adopting a descriptive research design, the investigation combined quantitative data collected via structured questionnaires from 271 visitors and zoo staff with inferential analysis using Spearman’s Rank Correlation. The research objectives were to identify current marketing strategies, evaluate their success in attracting visitors, profile visitor demographics, assess perceptions of the zoo’s educational and conservation roles, explore factors influencing zoo choice, and recommend improvements. Findings reveal that FUNAAB Zoo Park employs a mix of traditional and digital marketing tactics, such as visitor feedback loops, social media engagement, radio/TV advertisements, and educational partnerships with strong positive correlations between these strategies and both tourism development (ρ = 0.787, p = 0.007) and visitor patronage (ρ = 0.788, p = < .001). Visitor demographics skew heavily toward students and young adults (62.5% aged 18–25), with females comprising 60.5% of respondents. While customer service, cleanliness, and entrance fees received favorable ratings, significant gaps emerged in animal diversity, interactive activities, and the visual appeal of marketing materials. A weak but significant relationship was also found between visitor gender and preferences for zoo offerings (ρ = 0.15, p = 0.039), underscoring the role of demographic factors in shaping satisfaction. The study concludes that targeted, collaborative marketing efforts are instrumental in enhancing the zoo’s tourism appeal, but improvements in onsite attractions and visitor experiences are necessary to sustain long-term growth. Recommendations include strengthening partnerships with schools, tour operators, and travel agencies; expanding animal exhibits and interactive programs; upgrading infrastructure; tailoring marketing to demographic segments; and implementing regular feedback mechanisms and performance monitoring to refine strategies.