Keukenhof attracted more young visitors this season, compared to last year. The number of visitors to the flower gardens in Lisse, the Netherlands, was 1.4 million this year, roughly the same as last year. Next year’s theme is Flower Power.
By Hans Neefjes
The organisation of the flower exhibition in Lisse reports that the average age of visitors went down to 46 years. According to director Bart Siemerink, the number of groups of young people and families with children that want to see the tulips and other bulb flowers, has increased. In 2017, the average age of visitors was 48.
The top day in 2018 was the 21st of April, the Saturday on which the Flower Parade was held in the Dutch bulb growing region. On that particular day, Keukenhof attracted a record number of 68,000 visitors this year. The park sold more than 25,000 tickets on more than half of the total of 53 days that it was open.
Visitors rated their level of satisfaction with a 9 on average, according to Siemerink, which is the highest score they’ve ever achieved. The director says that the score was high on rainy days and early in the season too. “We want to be a showpiece of the Dutch horticultural industry. It’s great that we can achieve that goal with this score.”
Visitors came from 100 different countries. The largest group, around 20%, came from the Netherlands, and after that came Germany, the USA, France, China and Great Britain. Siemerink thinks that this top-6 list of countries won’t change much the coming years. Collaborations with parties such as Arriva, Schiphol and NS will be expanded the next couple of years.
Unpredictable season
The climate was more unpredictable this season than ever before. The first couple of weeks were extremely cold, which was followed by lots of rain and it ended with a very hot month of May (five days with temperatures above 25 degrees). The outdoor areas of the park were quite empty the first couple of weeks, but unlike the 2017 edition, they did remain colourful until the final day.
“We’re constantly finding better ways to deal with the changeable weather, for example by planting cultivars that flower earlier and later than average. We can also resort to other emergency measures such as planting potted bulbs or outdoor gerberas, as a way to ensure there are sufficient flowers in bloom throughout the park.”
Siemerink foresees that more and more often, there will be a combination of crops providing the display for the indoor exhibition in the Oranje Nassau Pavilion. This year, it was a combination of lisianthus and tulip, partially because the number of tulip suppliers is going down, and because the lisianthus family wanted to get more of a presence in Lisse. The number of peonies has become so high by now, that it’s become dificult to fit them in with the carnations and summer flowers during the final opening week of the park.
Accessibility
Traffic management in the area went smoothly. A total of 14,600 coaches and 165,000 cars were counted in all of the 20 ha of car parks. A steady number of visitors (20% of the total) travelled by public transport, using the Keukenhof Express from Schiphol, Leiden and Haarlem.
Siemerink hopes that there’s soon going to be a separate bus lane in the bulb region. “They’ve got a lane like that about three kilometres away from De Keukenhof. The road system in the bulb region is behind, that’s a disadvantage, and not just during the eight weeks that De Keukenhof is open. Luckily, accessibility turns out to be a key topic in the provinces of Noord-Holland and Zuid-Holland, as well as of the towns of Hillegom, Lisse and Haarlemmermeer. We’ll be joining these parties at a conference in June.”
Next year, the exhibition will celebrate its 70th anniversary. The theme of the anniversary edition will be Flower Power. The park is open from 21 March until 19 May in 2019.
