Tulips for Amsterdam: Growers hand out free flowers

As stores in Amsterdam and across the Netherlands cautiously reopen after weeks of coronavirus lockdown, the Dutch capital’s mood has been lightened further by dashes of colour from thousands of free bunches of tulips.

But with pandemic lockdown measures continuing to restrict large public gatherings, organisers this year took to Amsterdam’s World Heritage-listed canals to hand out their flowers.

“It is a gloomy and uncertain time for many people with the ongoing pandemic,” said Arjan Smit, chairman of Tulip Promotion Netherlands, an association of hundreds of Dutch growers.

“So we’re going to provide some joy. We hope to create many happy faces by handing out tulip bouquets.”

Dutch flower and plant auctioneer Royal FloraHolland had record sales in 2021 of 5.6 billion euros (£4.6 billion) thanks to higher prices for plants and cut flowers.