Tickets to the Denver Zoo Conservation Alliance could go up if Denver City Council approves.
The slight increase is in the name of abolishing the zoo’s off-season pricing system in favor of a year-round format.
Currently, visitors between November and mid-March pay about 60 percent less to enter the zoo than those who come from April to October.
But zoo leaders say that’s unsustainable and doesn’t align with the pricing structure of other Denver attractions.
Under the current system, adult visitors pay about $25 from March to October and about $16 during the winter off-season.
If Denver City Council approves the new pricing structure, tickets will cost $25.50 year-round.
Zoo officials said year-round pricing has been in the works since 2022.
Discounted rates on cold-weather days would remain under the proposed pricing structure, as well as free and reduced admission to community members and students.
“It will give us the flexibility on days like [when it snows] to consider a discount, because those days it costs us just as much to run the zoo as it does on a summer day,” said Denver Zoo COO Cristal Torres DeHerrera during a Denver Parks and Recreation Advisory Board meeting. “And yet our attendance is very low.”
The new prices would go into effect next winter. The proposal has already unanimously passed through Denver City Council’s Land Use, Transportation & Infrastructure Committee.
