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40th Anniversary Year a Great Success 20 January 2006 The year 2005 was a special year for the Curraghs Wildlife Park, celebrating forty years of service to the Manx public and visitors to the island. A number of special events were held to mark the anniversary and nearly three thousand visitors came to the Wildlife Park over the anniversary weekend itself of 2nd and 3rd July 2005. The year as a whole saw over fifty-six thousand visitors, the second best year on record since the early 80s and only marginally behind the record year of 2003 when excellent weather and the arrival of the red pandas boosted visitor numbers. Detailed visitor records began to be compiled in 1993 since when the numbers of season ticket visitors has increased by nearly fifty per cent, from 4477 to 6550, while the number of schools’ visitors has more than doubled, from 1398 to 3136. In that time also the number of paying visitors, including visits made by season ticket holders, has increased by twenty-five per cent. Chairman of the Leisure Division, Eddie Lowey, MLC, stated; “The Wildlife Park has really come on in recent years thanks to investment by my Department and hard work by all the staff there and it is very pleasing to see this being reflected in the growing numbers of people visiting the Park and the very favourable reports I get back from the people I talk to who have enjoyed a visit to the Park.” Mr Lowey is Chairman of the Leisure Division of the Department of Tourism and Leisure which administers the Wildlife Park. The Park is open every Saturday and Sunday from 10 am to 4 pm. More stories >>>
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