Express press service
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Weddings have become intimate, bespoke and private. And, following the trend, the tourism department is gearing up to turn the state into a wedding destination. The ministry will soon announce a detailed marketing plan for this purpose. He also began seeking answers from tourism stakeholders across the state by undertaking a survey.
“We are looking at a holistic plan. We have succeeded in making the state the best honeymoon and leisure destination for families and retired couples,” says VR Krishna Teja, Director of Kerala Tourism.
“Now the idea is to make Kerala a place for destination weddings. We need to create an ecosystem for this. We have finalized the master plan, but we need to polish it according to the suggestions of business partners.” Even at the n the pre-Covid era, the state was chosen as a wedding destination by North Indian and international tourists, and the hotels of the Kerala Tourism Development Corporation (KTDC) have hosted many such weddings.
“Whether it is having a wedding on the beach, one in the backwaters or hill stations, Kerala has it all. The only focus should be to make sure everything is comfortable for customers and nothing should be cumbersome,” says GS Rajmohan, Marketing Manager, KTDC. Anish Kumar PK, CEO of The Travel Planners and former President of the Association of Tourism Trade Association (ATTOI), says the trend is being seen globally.
“People started looking for safe and secluded places. We have received a lot of tourists from North India who choose to organize weddings here”, explains Anish Kumar. Jibran Asif, director of Abad Hotels and Resorts, stresses the need for a large inventory and sufficient infrastructure to cater to large crowds.
“Kerala is equipped for small weddings as it only requires less inventory. When it comes to larger crowd, we need to scale and need holistic development to meet the crowd. Promoting the state as a wedding destination can make a great contribution to tourism, with all ancillary products being promoted with wedding tourism,” says Jibran Asif. According to Jose Dominic, director and co-founder of CGH Earth, while the destination scores highly in terms of individual vacation destination, the regulatory environment makes it difficult.
“Comparing with other destinations such as Goa and Rajasthan, Kerala offers natural sights, but our barrier is the restrictive environment. A wedding is a festive event and the state excise rules are very restrictive », explains Dominic.