SRINAGAR: The all-time high 8.25 lakh visitors have visited Asia’s largest tulip garden in Srinagar with a flower carpet of 17 lakh tulips of 74 varieties and different colours after being thrown open on March 26 and with two days remaining for its closure, the officials expect the figure to touch 9 lakh mark.
Assistant Floriculture Officer (AFO) Tulip Garden Asif Ahmad told this newspaper that the Tulip garden, which has 17 lakh tulips of 74 varieties including two new varieties, will be closed for visitors on April 24.
The garden, which is spread over 450 kanals of land and is situated along the banks of world world-famous Dal lake and at the foothills of the Zabarwan mountain range, remains open for one month as the Tulip bloom lasts for that period only.
Asif said an all time high 8.25 lakh visitors including locals, domestic tourists from the country and foreigners have visited the Tulip garden since it was thrown open on March 26.
About 3000 foreign tourists have also visited the garden to witness the splendid bloom of different varieties and different colours of tulips.
The gardeners plant early, mid and late varieties of tulips in the garden so that the tulip flowers remain in bloom for a month and the visitors can see tulips of different colours and varieties in full bloom at any given point of time during the month-long tulip show.
Asif said they are hopeful that the footfall of visitors in Tulip garden will touch 9 lakh figure as two more days are still left for its closure.
On the first Sunday after Eid-ul-Fitr, a record 81,452 people visited the Tulip garden. It was all high time single day footfall of visitors to the garden.
The carpet of flowers, which gives a feel of paradise, draws a lot of tourists and locals every year to the garden.
In 2024, 4.45 lakh visitors visited the Tulip garden followed by 3.70 lakh in 2023 and 3.60 lakh in 2022.
The Tulip garden has become one of the major tourist attractions in the Valley since it was inaugurated in 2007 by then Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad. The opening of the garden signals the arrival of spring in the Valley.