Srinagar, Apr 17: Asia’s largest tulip garden, the Indira Gandhi Memorial Tulip Garden here, saw its visitor numbers plunge by more than half this season, marking a dramatic reversal from the record-breaking turnout it had achieved just a year ago and raising fresh questions about the fragility of Kashmir’s tourism ecosystem.

The garden, which drew an unprecedented 8.55 lakh visitors during the 2025 season — the highest in its history — could manage only 3.90 lakh visitors this year.

Of these, 1,222 were foreign nationals and 2.89 lakh were domestic tourists, with approximately 1.60 lakh local residents accounting for the remainder.

A senior official of the floriculture department said the drop, while significant on paper, needed to be read in the right context. “Last year’s numbers were exceptional and, to a degree, anomalous. This year, despite the decline in footfall, the garden performed creditably given the broader circumstances. We had significantly increased bulb density, introduced newer varieties and worked to make the visual experience richer than ever before,” the official said.

 “More than 70 varieties of tulips were on display this season, and the aesthetic quality of the bloom was among the finest we have seen. We remain committed to making this garden a world-class destination.”

Nestled at the foothills of the Zabarwan range overlooking the famous Dal Lake, the garden opened its gates to the public on March 16, 2026, featuring over 1.8 million bulbs across more than 70 varieties.

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah inaugurated the season a full week ahead of schedule, as an unseasonably warm spell accelerated the bloom and compressed the window available for visitors. The garden welcomed visitors daily from 9 AM to 7 PM throughout the season before closing around mid-April this week.

The steep year-on-year decline, however, is not without explanation. Last year’s tally of 8.55 lakh — a figure that stunned even seasoned tourism observers — was recorded under a unique set of circumstances.

The garden closed just two days after the Pahalgam terror attack, an event that sent shockwaves through the tourism industry and forced thousands of travellers to either abandon their trips midway or cancel bookings altogether. The surge in numbers before that point had been remarkable, and the final tally reflected weeks of exceptionally high footfall before the crisis struck.

Placed in a longer historical frame, this year’s 3.90 lakh visitors remain comfortably above the garden’s performance in most previous years.

Official records show 8.55 lakh visitors in 2025, 4.45 lakh in 2024, 3.75 lakh in 2023, 3.62 lakh in 2022 and 2.25 lakh in 2021. The garden remained closed through the entirety of 2020 owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. Going further back, it recorded 2.59 lakh visitors in 2019, 1.90 lakh in 2018, 1.50 lakh in 2017 and 1.75 lakh in 2016 — figures that underscore how far the garden has come as a tourist destination over the past decade.

The Indira Gandhi Memorial Tulip Garden was first opened to the public in 2008 on the initiative of then Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, with the explicit aim of drawing visitors to Kashmir during the lean spring months before the peak summer season sets in. What began as a modest horticultural initiative has since evolved into one of the most visited and photographed attractions in the valley, routinely drawing visitors from across the country and beyond each spring.