KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Zoo Knoxville just set a record in new attendance!
The zoo welcomed 591,131 visitors in 2023, setting a new annual attendance record that exceeded the last record set in 2021 by 17,000 visitors. This attendance has an economic impact, bringing 272,000 tourists to Knox County.
Zoo Knoxville said they contributed $58 million to the local economy in 2023.
They featured “Dawn of the Dinosaurs”, an exhibit of lifelike animatronic dinosaurs in the same year. More than 390,000 guests from 45 states visited the exhibit, with the top 10 states being Tennessee, North Carolina, Kentucky, Georgia, Virginia, Florida, Texas, Alabama, South Carolina and Indiana, according to Zoo Knoxville.
“We are grateful that our local community and tourists to the East Tennessee region choose to visit Zoo Knoxville last year in record numbers,” Drew Rowan, interim president and CEO, said. “It allows us to have real impact with our conservation programs, both locally and worldwide. We remain committed to giving our guests the highest quality experiences possible and look forward to continuing to raise the bar with new habitats and programming in 2024.”
October 2023 was the highest-attended month with 81,803 visitors, the zoo said.
Zoo Knoxville’s special events contributed to the record-breaking attendance, like the Halloween tradition BOO! at the Zoo, which welcomed more than 30,000 visitors, Brew at the Zoo with over 1,100 attendees, and Zoofari which had more than 600 guests in attendance.