Zoo visitor typology, motivation and behavior in FaunaLand Ancol, Indonesia

Zoos constitute important leisure spaces within the tourism system, combining recreation, education, and encounters with wildlife. This study was conducted at FaunaLand Ancol, a mini zoo located in North Jakarta, Indonesia, addressing a gap in leisure and zoo studies concerning how visitors’ motivations and on-site behaviours are experienced and translated into visitor typologies. Therefore, the purpose of the research is to identify zoo visitor typologies based on their motivations and behaviours. A qualitative phenomenological approach was employed to explore visitors’ lived leisure experiences and the meanings they attribute to zoo visits. Data were collected through in-depth interviews with 20 purposively selected visitors, which was sufficient to capture diverse experiential perspectives and achieve analytical saturation. The findings revealed five visitor typologies: Recreational-Educational, Explorer-Social, Visual-Emotional, Recreational-Social, and Spontaneous-Reactive. These findings contribute to leisure behaviour theory while offering practical insights for zoo management and visitor experience design.