Denver Zoo Wants to Raise Admission Fees, While Botanic Gardens Holds Steady

The Denver Zoo wants to raise its general admission fees by 20 percent over the next two years.

"To continue to effectively maintain and manage our world-class zoological and cultural institution, we [are] requesting a one-time admission fee increase of $4 — $2 in 2022 and $2 in 2023 — and a modest increase in facility rentals to support rising costs for staffing, capital construction and animal care," says Jake Kubié, director of communications for the Denver Zoo.

The Denver City Council Land Use, Transportation and Infrastructure Committee will consider the Denver Zoo's admission price increase request on October 11, before it goes to a vote of the full council later this month. Since the Denver Zoo is financed by a special revenue fund within the City of Denver, council gets to weigh in on any potential price increases.

Located on 84 acres within City Park, the Denver Zoo houses over 3,000 wild animals who "serve as ambassadors for their wild counterparts all over the world," according to the Denver Zoo website.

The zoo last raised its entry fees by $1 in 2018; it now contends that it needs to increase all of its admission fees by two dollars over each of the next two years because of Denver's increasing minimum wage, which will have gone from $11.10 in 2019 to $17.29 in 2023. Additionally, the average cost of animal food has increased by 56 percent in recent years, while the price of natural gas has gone up 36 percent, the price of other fuel has gone up 33 percent, and the cost of general supplies has gone up anywhere from 5 to 19 percent.

The price increases would raise the adult entry pass from $20 this year to $24 by March 1, 2023. Senior tickets would move from $17 to $21 by March 2023, and youth tickets would move from $14 now to $18 in 2023.
These admission increases will bring the Denver Zoo's prices closer to those of the Downtown Aquarium but still keep them under the cost of entry to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs. The Denver Zoo's prices would be similar to those of zoos in Chicago, Omaha and Houston.

Lowered entry fees geared toward lower-income individuals will remain in place at the Denver Zoo, including $1-per-person admission prices for up to ten people for families on food stamps.

"At this time, we are developing more free and reduced admission and education programs to roll out in 2023 to ensure our community has equitable access to the Zoo and our education experiences," says Kubié, noting that an estimated 390,000 people will have received free or discounted entry to the zoo in 2022.

The Denver Zoo also wants to increase its private space rental fees, with the campus-wide, after-hours rental shifting from $15,000 to $17,500.

The Denver Botanic Gardens, which is also financed by a special revenue fund, is asking Denver City Council to allow it to raise prices for private events and also to shift its pricing format.

"The motivation for the private rental increase was to keep pace with the market and to recognize the changing nature of our rental sites. We are proposing a shift from site-specific pricing to capacity-based pricing," says Jennifer Riley-Chetwynd, a spokesperson for the Denver Botanic Gardens. The most significant increase will be the full-facility rental, which cost $15,000 in 2016 and would move up to $20,000.

But in contrast to the zoo, the Denver Botanic Gardens will not be raising its daily admission rate, which is $15 for adults. Instead, DBG managements wants to be able to raise future admission rates in line with the regional consumer price index, at a maximum of a 5 percent increase annually.