Jessamy Chapman, editor of Group Tourism & Travel Magazine, talks to Benjamin Mee, director of Dartmoor Zoological Park and the author of We Bought A Zoo, which was made into a Hollywood film starring Matt Damon in 2008.  He will be appearing in the Keynote Theatre at 1pm on 22 March.

What are you going to talk about at BTTS?

I’ll give a little overview of our story and why this is an interesting place to come to. People may have heard of us because of the Hollywood film, and the background is that my family bought the zoo 10 years ago – but we struggled even after the film came out.

We did get some publicity, but that coincided with two global recessions, and five of the wettest summers on record in the UK. So we were struggling for probably the first eight years of our existence.

In the last two years, I turned the entire operation into a charity, which has been enormously helpful. I’ve also managed to establish big links with the local university, and other colleges, so we’re now actually teaching students about animal management on site. It gives a message to other tourism outlets that sometimes you have to do more than one thing to survive.

Do you get a lot of coach tours at the zoo?

I was expecting there to be coach tours of movie sites in the south west, because very near to us is the site on Dartmoor where War Horse was filmed. There’s also a country house used in the film Alice in Wonderland. I was expecting more than one tour operator to spring on that and it hasn’t actually happened.

What we tend to find with coach operators is that it’s the drivers themselves you need to nurture. If you can offer a good rest-over for a driver, they’re likely to suggest you as a destination.

This is a very good half-day and full-day destination, and we can promise we’ll be nice to the drivers.

Do you think Matt Damon did a good job of playing you?

Oh, he made me look so reasonable and calm. He made me look like a really nice, measured guy. It was great. He could have played me a bit more Jason Bourne, but you can’t have everything.

Are you a fan of the film?

Oh yeah! I’ve seen it 12 times. I like it because it does tell the basic story of not giving up, and that’s been my key thing from this experience. Most people when you’re in a difficult situation like that would say, ‘oh give up. There’s no point’. And they actually encourage you to give up. That came across in the film, that he had to make a stand and continue – and that’s what happened here.

The film is also about bereavement, and that was a central part of our story. After we bought the zoo my wife died which left me with my two very small children, aged six and four. In the film they decided not to have her moving into the zoo and then dying because it’s too sad. It does seem like they got it right, because he does go over the bereavement process quite deeply. It was very moving, and gave a very good, positive message. So I was pleased with it.

Were you interested in animals before you bought the zoo?

Yes, it’s been a lifelong interest. I was writing a book about animal intelligence while I was living in France in 2002-2005, and I did psychology at college and specialised in animal intelligence. I just never thought I’d be running a zoo; it’s such a sudden jump, completely sideways.

Have you got any of the original animals left?

There are two big cats left – a lioness called Josie and a tiger called Vlad. He’s my favourite creature here. He’s a massive, 200kg pussycat. Our bears are original inhabitants too: They’re 38 and 29, which is very old for bears. And we do believe that the 38-year-old is the oldest bear in the world at the moment.

What’s special about Dartmoor Zoo?

It kind of grew out of this big house; it’s got no central plan. You really can’t believe when you’re walking through this wooded space that there’s going to be a tiger looking at you. It’s just got that kind of English countryside feeling, enhanced with all these amazing animals.

Have you reached where you want to be?

It will always be an ongoing journey, but there is one more thing we need to accomplish before we can really say that it’s fixed, and that is to have a degree course taught here. It’s something we’re in talks with Plymouth University about.

At the beginning, I rang round a lot of other zoos and tourist attractions. They all said it’s a really good site and wished us well, which gave us that sense of community in the zoo world but also in the tourism community. Even though you’re a competitor, it’s almost like they don’t mind because you bring people to the region. I like that sense of community.

This is interview first appeared in Group Tourism & Travel Magazine, March 2017 (www.grouptourismtravel.com).

British Tourism and Travel Show will return to the NEC Birmingham on the 22-23 March 2017.  For more information and to register for a free ticket, please visit www.tourismshow.co.uk (direct link: https://registration.n200.com/survey/3merbygtnzi4j)