Indian wedding planners find that Thailand is perfect for the growing number of destination weddings thanks to airline accessibility, great Thai hospitality, affordability of luxury, strong cultural connections, and products and services that deliver the highest standards of excellence and attention to detail.
BANGKOK – Thailand is forecasting a huge growth in the number of Indian weddings and honeymoons following an annual fam trip organised for wedding planners from major Indian cities.
A total of 17 planners from Mumbai, New Delhi, Kolkata, Jaipur, Chandigarh and Bangalore were invited for this year’s trip, which covered Bangkok, Phuket, Khao Lak, Kanchanaburi, Hua Hin, Rayong and Pattaya. It was the third such trip organised in as many years.
The visit between 21-27 March, 2016, ended with a briefing symposium and table-top opportunity for business networking between the Indian wedding planners and 31 Thai hotels together with 23 wedding service and attractions keen to cater to the market.
Indian wedding planners find that Thailand is perfect for the growing number of destination weddings thanks to airline accessibility, great Thai hospitality, affordability of luxury, strong cultural connections, and products and services that deliver the highest standards of excellence and attention to detail.
Thailand hosts about 300 weddings from India every year, or roughly one event every two days. Each wedding party comprises between 100-600 people, covers three to six days, with budgets ranging from 10 million Baht to 50 million Baht per event.
Mrs. Srisuda Wannapinyosak, Deputy Governor for International Marketing – Asia and South Pacific – of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), said, “This is still only scratching the surface of the market potential. An estimated 15 million weddings are held in India every year with an overall expenditure of US$60 billion dollars. With the vast majority of the Indian population still in their 20s, many more weddings will come up in the years ahead.”
Ms. Soraya Homchuen, Director of the TAT Mumbai Office, gave a detailed briefing to the fam trip participants on the extensive range of hotels, restaurants, deluxe shopping malls, convention centres and other attractions and facilities that the Indian wedding planners can present to their clients.
Thailand has an extremely good image in India as the perfect place for destination weddings. It also received the “Best Wedding Destination” award in the readers poll conducted by Travel & Leisure India & South Asia magazine for consecutive four years (2011-2014).
The TAT’s India offices will be stepping up their marketing in India’s second- and third-tier cities, and also expand the events from weddings and honeymoons to anniversaries, birthday parties and family reunions.
At the conclusion of the trip, all the participants were presented with a Thailand Specialist Wedding Planner Certificate.
Photo caption (from left): Ms. Pissacha Hemvachiravarakorn, Moderator; Mr. Jatupon Janjampa, Dusit Thani Hua Hin’s Event Manager; Ms. Soraya Homchuen, TAT Mumbai Office Director; Ms. Anika Talwar, The Wedding Network’s Director; Mrs. Srisuda Wannapinyosak, TAT Deputy Governor for International Marketing – Asia and South Pacific; Ms. Walailak Noypayak, TAT Director of ASEAN, South Asia and South Pacific Region; Mrs. Pinki Arora, TAT New Delhi Office Marketing Representative; Mr. Isara Sathapanaseth, TAT New Delhi Office Director; and Mr. Parthip Thyagarajan, Weddingsutra.com’s Manager
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