Guest population not growing

[SailorCharon]

I do *not* have "limit guests" ticked in the options. That was the first thing I double checked.

That said, I've had 8300 guests (plus or minus 50) for what feels like an eternity now. How can I get more guests to come? I have a very large park with scores of species and hundreds of animals and staff; my profit is starting to dwindle as my park costs grow but income stagnates. Even high-attraction animals like a pair of rhinoceroses and a whole pride of lions haven't increased visitation.

I tried playing with my marketing budget. There's no difference between spending $5k per year and $15k per year. My current idea is to build a safari ride for the additional ticket sales, but I'm going to need more time before that's functional (that is to say, it's just sitting and collecting dust for now).

I'm only about half through my current zoo project, but if I don't start having more guests visit and spend their money, it may end up abandoned.

Love,
Khalil

[grampers62]

Sounds like your budget might be getting ravaged by food costs... But then, that's the thing with large zoos. There is a point where certain species just cost too much so we need to be careful how we use them. That being said, do what you can to get your park rating to 5 stars is the best thing if it isn't already there.
And I'm curious, is this franchise or sandbox? And what difficulty is it on if it is franchise?

[SailorCharon]

Hi, Grampers. You're probably right about the food costs. I still have some tools in my pocket so I'm not exactly going broke. I'm 5-stars, that's easy enough to achieve. I play exclusively in franchise and this zoo is on "easy" so I can focus more on building than management. I've got just shy of 3200 hours in-game so I'm comfortable with the game mechanics as a whole, but it's strange how I can't exceed 8300 guests when I've had zoos with 12000-13000 guests before.

[grampers62]

Yeah, I've noticed that some times guest draw gets a bit dodgy. I have to say I usually cut guests off at 5 to 6 K to keep my computer from going polaroid though so I can't say if the last update buffed guest limits.

[audiolady]

How many shops and information items do you have? Putting education items for all species seems to help more people, I think. I know the interactive items for the kids seems to draw families in-the kids just love them!
Plus what grampers said bout food costs. Find some low cost, fast breeding, high popularity critters to show. They'll draw in customers like flies to a Venus Fly Trap.

[jeremywyx]

education