2010 Volume 9 Issue 2 Pages 445-452
Zoos are often core regional tourist attractions. The aim of this research is to increase customer satisfaction of zoos by increasing productivity. Increasing productivity can be achieved by improving value-added services or reducing costs. This research mainly focuses on the former. In particular, we were able to sustain interest in the zoo over an extended period of time by devising a system that merged actual experiences in the zoo with virtual experiences at home, through the introduction of information technology such as live cameras, internet-based community sites and radio-frequency identification devices (RFID). By implementing this system in Maruyama zoo as a pilot study, the results of a one month demonstration experiment on the subjective appraisal of participants revealed that original predictions could easily be achieved.