Srinagar, Apr 19: Breaking all the previous records, Asia’s largest tulip garden in Srinagar achieved a rare feat as over three lakh, seventy thousand tourists visited the breath-taking garden.
Divulging the details, Floriculture Officer at the Tulip Garden Shayiq Rasool said that the Tulip Garden has become a major tourist destination. This year, they were expecting a record-breaking flow of tourists to this garden. He stated that the Department of Floriculture, Gardens, and Parks is making tireless efforts round the year to make the Tulip Garden more attractive for domestic as well as international tourists.
He said that this year, 3,70375 visitors, including 58622 locals, 308543 domestic tourists, and 3,210 foreign tourists, thronged the Tulip Garden in the last 31 days to enjoy the mesmerising tulip blooms at the Tulip Garden, which has the world’s best ambience with the Zabarwan Hills as the backdrop and the front overview of Dal Lake.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had earlier tweeted about the beauty of Jammu and Kashmir.
“Jammu and Kashmir is beautiful, and even more so during the Tulip Season,” the Prime Minister had tweeted. The impact of the Prime Minister’s tweet regarding Jammu and Kashmir and the tulip season had a good effect and gave an impetus to the flow of tourists to the Tulip Garden.
The officer said last year 3.60 lakh tourists, including 161000 domestic tourists and 159 foreign tourists, thronged the garden, and this year not only was there a high flow of domestic tourists but also a good flow of international tourists. So far, more than 3210 international tourists have visited the garden.
“After interacting with the tourists, most of the domestic and international tourists told us that they had planned their visit to Kashmir, particularly to visit the Tulip Garden. It feels so great to see that the number of domestic and international tourists visiting Tulip Gardens is increasing,” he said.
The Department of Floriculture Gardens & Parks is working round the year to make the garden more presentable. Every year, an attractive colour scheme, designs, and plantation patterns are made to make the Tulip Garden mesmerising. This year, 1.6 million sprawling tulips and flowers, comprising 68 tulip varieties, were on display at Asia’s Largest Tulip Garden.
Four new tulip varieties, viz., Café noir, Hamilton, Sweet Heart, and Christmas Dream, were brought from the Netherlands to add more colour and beauty. Furthermore, other spring flowers like daffodils, hyacinths, muscari, forsythia, magnolia liliflora, magnolia soulangena, ornamental peaches, ornamental plums, etc. were on display.
“Tourists were thrilled with joy and excitement after their entry to the Tulip Garden. We are feeling very encouraged after the response of the tourists that our efforts and hard work are yielding good results. This year was also special as the Department of Floriculture Gardens and Parks extended the Water Channel, cascading waterfalls, and fountain line at the Tulip Garden. Besides the high rise fountain, another was also installed at the top terrace. The extended water channel, water cascades, fountain line, and high-rise fountain enhanced the beauty of the Tulip Garden.”
The department had kept tourist-friendly facilities available in the Tulip Garden, which include wheel chair facilities for the senior citizens and specially abled people, adequate drinking water points, adequate washrooms, a sufficient number of garden benches, a public address system, lactation rooms, garden signage, etc., Shayiq remarked.
