When two WORLDS COLLIDE

The maiden edition of Travel Wedding Show took off at Le Meridien, Gurgaon, from July 9-10 and brought the wedding and travel industry under one roof. Organised by the Pacific Leisure Group (PLG) and DDP Group, the event is the first of its kind in the co

The wedding market in India is a multibillion industry with thousands of weddings taking place in the country throughout the year. The industry has flourished since time immemorial and is probably the only one that thrives even in the face of recession.

The need for a consolidated face-to-face opportunity between the two sectors has led to the birth of the Travel Wedding Show, held over a span of two days. The closed door event witnessed 30 buyers and 30 exhibitors on each day where appointments took place in a round-robin format. While the first day held emphasis on wedding planners and event management companies, the second day was solely focused on travel agents.

“There have been events focusing on either weddings or travel, but never together. Travel Wedding Show aims to bring a select group of people together and facilitate business for the growth of the industry. Moreover, the idea is to bring select people from the two worlds together for face-toface interactions that are most effective,” shared Sarika Bhambani Rawal, General Manager, Travel Wedding Show.

Elated by the outcome of the show, Punam Singh, Associate, Pacific Leisure Group, said, “The show has been a huge success in conducting meetings. We have been able to conduct around 1200 meetings in the two days. Everyone has gone back with at least 50 meetings.”

To inform the audience about the increasing potential of the industry, a speaker session was held on the inaugural day with speakers like Shaji Thomas, Director - Destination Tourism Development, Ras Al Khaimah and Guldeep Singh Sahni, President - OTOAI.

Key note speaker Rajeev Jain who is the Managing Director of Rashi Entertainment. enlightened the gathering about developments in the sector. “The wedding industry is flourishing at a growth rate of 15 per cent p.a. and is pegged at an estimated

250,000 crore or $40 billion,” he said. Jain added that with Indians spending 80 per cent of their wealth on weddings, the sector has proved to be a great contributor to GDP.

About 8 per cent of Indians opt for destination weddings from which connectivity and accessibility is the chief factor while choosing locations. Additionally, Thailand hosted 780 Indian weddings last year where the average expenditure on each wedding was ` 4 crore, Jain revealed.

Thomas said that realising the potential of the multi-billion dollar Indian wedding industry, the country is keen to grab a piece of the pie. “We are just 45 minutes away from Dubai; and India is home to fantastic, luxurious hotels capable of hosting larger-than-life weddings. We encourage you to host weddings here as it caters to all sorts of client genres, thanks to the infrastructure and tourism products like beaches.”