Why not open places where social distancing would be easy?

[UnderTheBus]

I was thinking today about our local zoo - it is massive (140 acres apparently) and the paths are all about 5m wide. Do we think places like this could be opened soon? Social distancing would be easy, especially if they limited numbers and allowed pre booked tickets only.

Similarly safari parks where people stay in their own cars - super easy to social distance. Or gardens like national trust. It would actually be easier to maintain distance than somewhere like the beach because they can limit how many people go in.

The zoo in Jersey has been reopened, they were restricting numbers by making people book online in advance as you suggest. I would have thought other zoos could follow suit but at the moment they can't because the government isn't allowing ticketed venues to reopen.

The National Trust is caught by the ticketed venues thing, but it could reopen gardens to members. It says it can't because of Charity Commission rules (in England/Wales) that say it has to reopen for everyone. I really can't see that the Charity Commission would go after them at this time, but it's typical of the "no can do" attitude we keep seeing in this country.

Historic Scotland on the other hand says it will give members priority when it reopens sites.

Ah I hadnt realised the "ticketed venues" clause. That is a bit silly as outdoor ticketed venues like a garden or zoo is totally different to something like a museum, in terms of being able to social difference
Hopefully they will be able to reverse that soon, or at least make it open to members. I'm not an NT member but I have membership at several farms, zoos and gardens locally who might adopt the same idea if the NT did.

Even with wide paths etc you’ve still got to consider things like toilets, common touch points etc. The venues will of course now be coming up with solutions for when they are given the go ahead though, but it isn’t as straight forward as just being an outdoor space. I’d imagine they likely also make a fair bit of their income on cafe/gift shop sales which they’ll need to work through.