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India is ‘ideal destination’ for weddings, says Indian diplomat

The Wedding tourism industry in India reached US $75 billion mark in the 2023-2024 period

Representative image / Unsplash

The Consulate General of India in New York hosted a webinar on ‘Wedding Destinations in India’ on February 17. The session aimed to showcase myriad locations across India that offer the best of music, local traditions, culture, choice of desert/forest/mountain/beach/palace/spiritual locations, meditational retreats, etc.

The Consul General of India, New York Binaya Srikanta Pradhan, and Deputy Consul General of India, New York, Dr Varun Jeph were in attendance, alongside Parthip Thyagarajan, the CEO of WeddingSutra a company that “provides comprehensive wedding information and inspiration” to couples ahead of their wedding. 



Dr Jeph mentioned Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “Wed in India” call where he invited affluent families from the country and those living abroad to host their family weddings in India itself. 

CGI Pradhan said, “When it comes to wedding tourism, I would say, India probably is the ideal destination.” He underlined that the country has something to offer for weddings of all religions and budgets.

“So whether we are talking about the Himalayas to the backwaters of Kerala or from the forts of Rajasthan to the lakes of Orissa or even the newly opened tourism sector in the North East of India, you are basically going to have an unforgettable experience which you cannot probably replicate elsewhere,” Pradhan stated.

Thyagarajan enumerated the popular wedding destinations and properties around the country. He highlighted spiritual sites as popular among NRIs, including the Golden Temple in Amritsar and the UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Shore Temple in Mahabalipuram. 

He also mentioned the popularity of temple towns like Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh and Guruvayur in Kerala where hundreds of weddings take place on auspicious days. He noted that temple town weddings come with a set of issues including a lack of room inventory and limited food options among other things, however, they are a great budget option.

Thyagarajan also mentioned the rise of Bengaluru as the ideal option for weddings given its all-year-round pleasant weather and presence of good properties within a 50-minute drive from the airport which is suitable for guests who cannot travel for longer durations by road.

The wedding tourism industry reached the US $75 billion mark in the 2023-2024 period according to a WedMeGood report. In 2023, the Ministry of Tourism developed a wedding tourism campaign to spotlight India as a wedding destination of choice and amplify tourism in the country. 

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