THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Weddings have turned intimate, bespoke and private. And, keeping up with the trend, the tourism department is gearing up to turn the state into a destination wedding getaway. The department will soon announce a detailed marketing plan for this. It has also started seeking responses from tourism stakeholders across the state by undertaking a survey.
“We are looking into a holistic plan. We have been successful in making the state the best honeymoon destination and leisure destination for families and retired couples,” says VR Krishna Teja, director, of Kerala Tourism.
“Now, the thought is to make Kerala a place for destination weddings. We need to create an ecosystem for that. We have finalised the master plan but need to fine-tune it in accordance with the suggestions of the trade partners.” Even during the pre-Covid times, the state was selected a wedding destination by the North Indian as well as international tourists. The hotels under Kerala Tourism Development Corporation (KTDC) have hosted many such weddings.
“Be it having a beach wedding, one in backwaters or hill stations, Kerala has it all. The only focus must be to ensure that everything comes at ease for the clients and nothing should be cumbersome,” says G S Rajmohan, marketing manager, KTDC. Anish Kumar P K, CEO of The Travel Planners and former president of the Association of Tourism Trade Association (ATTOI), says that the trend is seen globally.
“People started looking at safe, isolated venues. We have been getting a lot of tourists from North India who chooses to hold the weddings here,” says Anish Kumar. Jibran Asif, director, Abad Hotels and Resorts, stresses the need to have a huge inventory and enough infrastructure to cater to a large crowd.
“Kerala is equipped when it comes to small weddings because it requires only lower inventory. When it comes to a larger crowd, we need to scale up and need a holistic development to cater to the crowd. Promoting the state as a wedding destination can bring in tourism in a big way with all ancillary products getting promoted with wedding tourism,” says Jibran Asif. According to Jose Dominic, director and co-founder of CGH Earth, while the destination scores high in terms of an individual holiday destination, the regulatory environment makes it difficult.
“When compared with other destinations such as Goa and Rajasthan, Kerala offers natural venues, but our barrier is the restrictive environment. A wedding is a celebratory event, and the excise rules of the state are very limiting,” says Dominic.