The Tulip Garden in Kashmir is Asia’s biggest and at par with Holland’s Keukenhof spring gardens with its collection of 102 blooming varieties in one place.
The garden is located in the foothills of enchanting Zabarwan mountains and is currently in full bloom, attracting thousands of tourists every day, and reviving the tourist dependent economy of the region.
Javed Shah, the project Manager at Tulip Garden, said in a Daily Excelsior report that when the garden was opened in the last week of March the response was moderate as there were no tourists around.
“Now we are in the third week and response is overwhelming. Around 1.2 lakh (0.12 million) people visited the garden so far in first three weeks and it is increasing,” Shah was quoted in the regional daily.
“We had a record number of over 10, 000 visitors on Sunday, April 14. Earlier mostly locals visited the garden and now majority of the visitors are tourists.”
The regional tourism industry had got a massive blow in March after the death of a young protester in alleged firing by Indian security forces. A local daily newspaper, Kashmir Times, reported that the region lost 60 percent of its tourist bookings after violent attack on Indian security forces and subsequent street protests.
Local media reported that the garden in bloom has given a big boost to tourism industry with many Indian film and television crews currently shooting there.
