Free entry for toddlers

Free entry for toddlers, says Wildlife Reserves S'pore

Setting the record straight on an admission policy blooper last week, Wildlife Reserves Singapore (WRS) said on Monday that all children below the age of three may enter the Zoo, Night Safari and Jurong Bird Park for free.

It will also provide full refunds to visitors wrongly charged between June 1 and 3.

WRS, which operates the three iconic attractions, had said last Friday that infants aged one to three who are part of school or tour groups would require children's tickets to enter.

For independent travellers, in a case where two children below age three were accompanied by only one adult, the second child would also have to buy a children's ticket. On its websites last Friday, WRS had also indicated that children's tickets would apply to those aged one to 12.

All this is now history, with WRS group chief executive Fanny Lai clarifying on Monday that all children below age three, as well as infants in arms, may enter the attractions for free.

Explaining the confusion, Ms Lai said: "Due to an internal miscommunication, the wrong information was uploaded onto the website and wrongly communicated to our staff for a brief period."

WRS had meant to update its education site to inform school groups with toddlers below age three that they would need to register the groups before taking them to the attractions.

"This change was implemented as WRS noticed an increasing number of groups with very young children have been taking advantage of the free entry for school groups and we want to ensure safety measures are in place," said Ms Lai.

"The recommended adult supervision ratio to toddlers is 1:5."

As a result of the miscommunication, some visitors were wrongly charged for admission on the first three days of this month.

MediaCorp understands that the number affected is small, and that some have written in to the attractions.

WRS will try to trace other affected visitors and verify the tickets of the rest who come forward for refunds.

Said Ms Lai: "All the guests who have been wrongly charged will be fully refunded and we sincerely apologise for the gaps in our service."

Commending the move was Consumers Association of Singapore executive director Seah Seng Choon, who said: "We've called on them to refund affected consumers, and they have agreed."

WRS attractions' websites have also been revised. Footnotes below information on opening hours and rates read: "Admission for child below 3 years old is free. School groups are to pre-register with the education department."

~News courtesy of Today~