Srinagar, April 5: Located at the Zaberwan hills, Asia’s largest tulip garden in Srinagar is witnessing an all-time high tourist rush.
In the first 16 days, 1000 international tourists among 209180 tourists thronged the tulip garden.
An official of floriculture told Rising Kashmir that the garden is witnessing all-time high tourist numbers and for the first time since its opening, 1000 international tourists have visited the garden so far, and it is remaining jam packed throughout the day.
He said that on March 3, the highest number of international tourists visited the Garden, which included 127, followed by 124 on March 28 and 100 on April 1, and the number of international tourists is drastically increasing.
Similarly, on the third day of opening the garden, it witnessed the highest number of tourists, which included 35106, followed by 23212 on April 2. The majority of them are non-local tourists, as local tourists aren’t visiting the garden given the holy month of Ramadan.
3.66 lakh tourists thronged the garden last year.
A large number of people are also saying that they are unable to visit Kashmir due to the pre-booking of hotels in the city and elsewhere.
Deputy Director, Ikhlas Shayiq told Rising Kashmir that the garden is witnessing all-time high tourist numbers, adding that compared to the previous year, the tulip garden is receiving an extra 3000 tourists every day.
Shayiq said that the flow of international tourists is also high, and more than 1000 international tourists have flocked the garden so far this year; last year, only 159 international tourists visited the garden. We are expecting all-time high tourist numbers this year at the garden, Shayiq added.
Expressing happiness over the good footfall of international and local tourists, newly elected Houseboat Association Kashmir president Manzoor Pakhtoon said the valley is witnessing a good number of international tourists and urged the administration to ease up the restrictions on other foreign countries.
Pakhtoon said the houseboats are also witnessing a good number of tourists, adding that international tourists are preferring to travel by air instead of road. He has urged the administration to take note of high air fares so more and more tourists will visit Kashmir valley.
