3.65 lakh and counting, Kashmir’s Tulip garden abuzz with visitors
Officials said over 3.65 lakh tourists including domestic as well as locals visited the tulip garden in in Sirnagar, Kashmir, this year since its opening on March 19; last year, the garden, set up in 2006, had recorded the then high of 3.6 lakh.
Kashmir’s Tulip Garden, one of Asia’s biggest flower plots featuring 1.6 million flowers, broke all arrival records within a month of its opening this year.
Officials said over 3.65 lakh tourists including domestic as well as locals visited the garden this year since its opening on March 19. Last year, the garden, set up in 2006, had recorded the then high of 3.6 lakh.
“The number of visitors during the ongoing tulip show crossed an all time high footfall of 3.65 lakh till April 18. The visitors include over 3 lakh domestic tourists and more than 3000 foreigners,” deputy director floriculture Shayiq Rasool said.
The official said that the record was despite Ramadan and poor weather slowing the local rush.
Besides the 68 varieties of tulips, the visitors also enjoy water features like a high-rise fountain on the top of the terraced garden and waterfalls. The newly added features augment the magnificent 30-hectare terraced tulip garden at Siraj Bagh on banks of majestic Dal Lake.
Rasool said the domestic tourist number had almost doubled to 3 lakh from last year’s highest of 1.6 lakh, adding, “Similarly, last year just 159 foreigners had visited the garden while this year the number rose to 3,154.”
“The garden is being talked about in the travel circuits of the country and outside. It is pulling tourists like never before,” he stressed.
Round-the-clock maintenance
At least 60 gardeners work round-the-clock to maintain the iconic garden and ensure that the sea of flowers, which begin to bloom in late March, are properly taken care of. The garden is divided into 36 plots with 16-18 beds in each. There are three parks inside the garden as well, where visitors can sit and have an immersive experience in a sea of colours flanked by the Zabarwan mountain range.
The garden played an important part in wooing more tourists during the spring last year, particularly after the Covid disruptions in 2020 and 2021. In 2022, the garden saw 3.6 lakh visitors against 2.3 lakh in 2021.
Rasool said the weather was favourable this year and they are thinking about extending the period to keep the garden open.
“Tentatively the garden will remain open for two more days and we will be having a meeting to decide whether the period can be extended,” he said, adding that some flowers are still in bloom. “Some 20% late blooming varieties of tulip flowers are still intact.”
Kashmir’s connection with tulips traces its origin back to hundreds of years when the flowers were grown on muddy rooftops of houses. Gradually, people started planting them in kitchen gardens and flower beds. In 2005-06, the then state government decided to convert Siraj Bagh into a regal tulip garden, keeping up with Kashmir’s historical ties with the flower variety.
