7.3 Careers in Visitor Attractions
Meagan A. McGuire
The popular types of visitor attractions introduced in this chapter offer a wide range of employment opportunities. Some of these offer career paths leading to specialized jobs, such as curator of a museum or zookeeper at a zoo. Some career paths enable work for a variety of visitor attractions. These include jobs in grant writing, education, private event management, and visitor services.
U.S. museums supported over 90,000 jobs in 2022, including work in admissions, marketing, membership, collections management, education, private events, and more (Statista Research Department, 2024). Collectively, AZA-accredited zoos and aquariums provide approximately 200,000 jobs (Marcy, 2021). Below is a list of the most common management and executive positions at heritage sites, which include museums, zoos, and aquariums (AZA, n.d.-b). This list is not exhaustive, and not all positions are found at all facilities.
Director or Chief Operating Officer: responsible for operations, policies, strategic planning, and future development
Finance Manager or Finance Director: responsible for finances, purchasing, investments, and reporting
General Curator: responsible for an entire animal, artifact, or art collection, strategic collection planning, and management staff
Specialized Curator: manage specific collections, such as animals or plants
Registrar: responsible for computer records, permits, and licenses for collection
Director of Research: responsible for academic connections and supervision of research projects and publications
Director of Conservation: responsible for a zoo’s or aquarium’s conservation activities
Head Keeper or Head Aquarist: responsible for daily wellbeing of animals
Operations Director or Operations Manager: responsible for daily operations
Curator of Exhibits: responsible for exhibits and exhibit design
Director of Education: responsible for the education programs offered by an institution
Public Relations, Affairs Manager, or Affairs Director: responsible for communication with the public and media
Development Director or Development Officer: responsible for fund-raising activities, such as writing grant proposals and finding corporate sponsors and private donors
Marketing Director or Marketing Manager: responsible for media and advertising campaigns
Special or Private Events Manager: responsible for developing special events or coordinating private event rentals
Membership Director or Membership Manager: responsible for an institution’s membership, including increasing membership and designing special member events
Gift Shop Manager: responsible for an institution’s store, its staff, and for buying products
Visitor Services Manager: responsible for admissions, concessions, and other activities to accommodate the visiting public
Human Resources, Personnel Manager, or Personnel Director: responsible for hiring, payroll, insurance, and all other personnel matters
Volunteer Coordinator: r