With very little tourist footfall in Jammu and Kashmir, the state tourism and floriculture departments are bracing up with events and attractions to attract tourists in this spring season. According to state floriculture department officers, about 13 lakh tulip bulbs will sprout in March. Javaid Shah, former floriculture officer and now consultant for Asia’s largest tulip garden in the foothills of Zabarvan, said that in this new season they have added some 50,000 hyacinth bulbs in the garden. He said that there would be also thousands of daffodils sprouting along with tulip bulbs. He said that there would be stalls and wifi facility for foreign tourists within the garden.
The state floriculture department has constructed a fresh fountain channel in the garden in the pattern of the one at the Mughal garden in Srinagar. “This fountain channel has been constructed purely on Mughal era pattern as an additional attraction for the tourists to come,” Javaid Shah said.
Shah said that this year, he expects millions of multicoloured tulips to bloom. He said that the recent rains and snow have helped the bulbs to bloom and if all goes well, the garden will be opened to visitors on 25 March.
Mehmood Ahmad Shah, Director, tourism, Kashmir said that he was expecting some film crews to come and shoot a few romantic songs in the tulip garden and that his department will also organise a tulip festival.
Film maker Vinod Chopra is already in Srinagar to shoot for his film “Love letters from Kashmir”.
Authorities are expecting film crews from Bollywood as well as from the South, as in the previous year many film crews came here for shooting their films.