The one millionth visitor of this year has arrived in the person of six-year-old Simon Marci, who visited the Budapest Zoo and Botanical Garden with his family. Our outstandingly popular Zoo and Botanical Garden has been visited by even more people this year than usual, as it has been nearly a decade since the number of visitors reached one million by the end of October.
Zoos are popular all over the world. Few would think, for example, that in the United States, they usually register more zoo visitors annually than the total audience of all professional basketball and baseball games combined. The attendance at German zoos also tends to exceed the total annual attendance of all Bundesliga matches.
Our Zoo is also very popular. The number of our visitors is approaching, and most often even exceeds, one million people per year, making the Budapest Zoo and Botanical Garden the most visited cultural institution in Hungary, and the tourist attraction with the most visitors that requires an entrance fee. In practice, this also means that we are the only ones in the country where the special greeting of the one millionth visitor of a given year can even be considered.
In the year 2024, our one millionth visitor entered the main gate of the Zoo on October 30th, just after 10 in the morning: six-year-old Márton Simon arrived from Budapest with his family members. The family was welcomed by Dr. Endre Sós, the Director of Wildlife Conservation and Animal Health at the Zoo, accompanied by Izabella, the Bactrian camel.
As the one millionth visitor, Marci received several gifts, such as a plush tiger, a one-year family pass, and also the symbolic adoption of any resident of the Zoo for a year. After the gifts were handed over, the family, guided by the director, had the opportunity to enter the South America enclosure, where they could get up close and interact with the tapirs and other animals living there.
Dr. Endre Sós, in relation to the arrival of the one millionth visitor, drew attention to the fact that this year even more people than usual visited the exceptionally popular Zoo and Botanical Garden. Thanks to this, the number of visitors reached one million even before the end of October. The same last happened nearly a decade ago. Since there are still two months left in the year, we expect that our visitor numbers this year will be the highest of recent years.
The director also specifically thanked the general public for demonstrating their interest and visiting the Zoo in such large numbers.
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