Tulip festival starts flower season - 31st January 2024

Around three billion tulips are exported each year from the Netherlands, the world's largest commercial producer of these eye-catching flowers. To kick off the tulip season, the third Saturday of January has been designated 'National Tulip Day'.

Opening the event this year in Amsterdam was local DJ Robbert van de Corput, whose stage name is Hardwell. He was overjoyed to learn that one of his best-loved flowers has been named in his honour – 'Tulipa Hardwell'.

Robbert van de Corput (stage name, Hardwell): "I like tulips, I like flowers in general. I think it’s amazing and well, as I mentioned, like, a tulip is such a special flower and I’m really honoured to have, well, one named after me now."

People are allowed to gather some blooms for free at a specially designed garden and the joyful colour range breaks up winter's greyness, bringing relief for student Claire Hanssen.

Claire Hanssen, Student: "I think they’re very beautiful and considering how cold and grey it’s been, I think it’s very nice to bring colour into the house."

While tulips are almost always associated with the Netherlands, they actually originated in the mountain ranges of Central Asia.

First introduced to the Netherlands in the 1600s, by the following century popularity had soared. The flower became a significant commodity and the bulbs were more valuable than gold. Back then, certain bulbs could sell for more than an average man's annual income.

Although there was a famously dramatic slump in the market in 1637, for most people, these flowers continue to hold their value. Rotchel, a festival goer from the Philippines – a country where tulips are rarely seen – is delighted by the heartwarming riot of colours.

Rotchel Mae Padulaga: "Well, it’s like a beautiful flowers and it’s not, it’s very rare to see because we doesn’t have that in the Philippines so, that’s really really makes us happy to see the tulips and experience that by ourselves here."