J-K: Record number of tourists visit Asia's largest tulip garden in Srinagar

 The fame of Asia's largest tulip garden, situated on the banks of the Dal lake here, has reached far-away countries like Argentina as a record 3.7 lakh tourists, including foreigners, visited it this season. The Indira Gandhi Tulip Garden, which was earlier known as Siraj Bagh, has drawn tourists from all over the country and abroad, Inam-ur Rehman, the in-charge of the garden, told PTI.

"Today was the 32nd day of the tulip show. More than 3.7 lakh tourists have visited the tulip garden so far, of whom more than three lakh were domestic tourists. The response of foreign tourists has also been very good as more than 3,000 of them visited the garden," Rehman said on Friday.

He said the tulip show was successful as the footfall this season was the highest ever. Last year, 3.6 lakh tourists visited the garden. "Our mission was to create a global appeal and we succeeded in it. Tourists from Thailand, the United States, European countries and Argentina visited the garden," Rehman added.

He said the tulip garden has played a significant role in advancing the tourism season in Kashmir. With the tulips in the last stage of their bloom, a significant number of tourists are still visiting the garden. "We do not have this type of a garden in Thailand. It is very nice. There are a lot of tulips of different colours here. My friend and I love these," Ngoyenoy from Thailand said.

Mahesh Soni from Delhi said the garden is like a meadow of flowers. "It is really beautiful. Our trip to Kashmir was mesmerising and it is worth it," he added. "It (Kashmir) is the heaven of India. Wherever you look, there are mountains and in between, there are tulips of different colours," Deepali Saha, a tourist from West Bengal, said. Saha said this was not her first visit to Kashmir but this time, she arrived early to see the tulip garden. "My earlier visits to Kashmir were in May and June but this time, I came in April only to see tulips," she said.