Over 420,000 tourists visit Asia’s largest tulip garden in Srinagar, breaking all previous records

Over 420,000 visitors have visited Asia's Largest Tulip Garden in Srinagar in the last 30 days since its opening. Nestled between Dal Lake and Zabarwan hills, Asia's largest Tulip garden hasover 1.7 million tulips of 73 varieties this year. And it remains one of the main attractions for the tourists visiting the Valley in the spring season.

The tulip garden in Srinagar witnessed a record number of visitors in the last 30 days. All previous records of tourist footfall have been broken this year.

Over 420,000 (4.2 lakh) visitors flocked to the garden in the last one month. And since the Tulips are in full bloom, it looks no less than a floral wonderland. The Tulip garden saw a record number of visitors last year with 3.7 lakh (370,000) visitors and officials say all previous records have been broken this year even as the garden still remains open for public.

''As you have witnessed, the Tulip garden has been breaking all its previous records every year, and this year is also not a surprise for us. We have witnessed 4.2 lakh visitors so far in a span of 30 days. 4.2 lakh visitors have explored the garden so far and many more will come. This year, we also saw a huge number of foreign tourists from various parts of the world coming to the garden, around 2500-3000 foreigners. The tulip committee will soon decide about the closure date of the garden,'' said Asif Ahmad Itoo, Floriculture Officer.

The Tulip garden has played a major role in attracting more and more tourists to Kashmir Valley during spring. And seeing the huge rush of visitors, the government openedthe garden much before the earlier time. It used to open inthe first week of April but this time it was opened a week earlier on March 23.

''We have seen the Tulip garden only in films but seeing it in reality is an amazing feeling. We couldn't have imagined that such a flower could exist in reality. People from aroundthe world come to see this garden. This place is so clean and really a paradise on earth,'' said Aditya Tripathi, a tourist.

Over 150 gardeners and staff have worked day and night to ready the garden for the public. It takes these gardeners around 6 months to get the garden ready, and huge planning is done much earlier before the opening of the garden. A lot of foreign tourists are coming to the Valley as well, especially to see the Tulip Garden.

''Kashmir is really a paradise, and it's the crown of India. This tulip garden is unique, and we have specially come from Indore to see the garden. We missed the snowfall, but this is beautiful. Things that we see in the movies sometimes are not real, but this garden is real and mesmerising. Next time, I will come with my whole family,'' said Sanawar Khan, a tourist.

The officials have decided to keep the garden open for a few more dayson public demand.