Over the last five years, developing wedding tourism has been considered a strategy of many Asian countries, especially those in Southeast Asia. Making use of their natural advantages, special cultural values, and competitive event organisation costs, such destinations as Thailand, Indonesia, and Vietnam have been emerging as favourite choices for travelers from North America and Asia, the biggest sources of wedding tourists worth 28.8 billion USD and 23 billion USD, respectively.

As a key tourism destination in the central region and boasting marine tourism advantages, Da Nang is becoming popular among many Indian couples. More than 20 wedding events of Indians have been held in this locality and neighbouring areas over the past two years.

Truong Thi Hong Hanh, Director of the municipal Tourism Department, said Da Nang is a new and attractive place for Indian tourists thanks to a number of advantages, including marine tourism, world-famous hotel brands, interesting theme parks, night-time entertainment activities, diverse cuisine, its connectivity with some of the world’s cultural heritage sites in Vietnam, and its recognition as the Asia’s Leading Festival and Event Destination.

The growth of Indian visitors in 2023 initially proved the attractiveness of this city, which welcomed over 95,000 arrivals from the South Asian country, accounting for almost half of the total Indian tourists coming to Vietnam last year, she noted.

The official said the local tourism sector has devised an array of measures for attracting wedding tourists such as opening direct air routes to key markets, boosting communications, and hosting wedding fairs and exhibitions.

This year, Da Nang is working to establish itself as the leading destination of wedding tourism in the domestic market while increasing in-depth communications in target foreign markets like India, Japan, the Republic of Korea, and China.

It will also build signature wedding facilities, effectively implement a pilot support programme for wedding tourists, and connect with professional organisers to advertise this kind of tourism in the city to international markets, Hanh added.

Six Indian weddings are scheduled to take place in Da Nang in the first two months of 2024.

Travel companies also highly value Da Nang’s capacity of supplying diverse and quality products and services. They said Indian visitors often stay for at least four nights at four- and five-star hotels in the city, and prefer nigh-time entertainment, pub, and spa services.

Nguyen Duc Quynh, General Director of Furama Resort and Chairman of the Da Nang Hotel Association, said weddings of foreign tourists are often simple and intimate, but most of Indian weddings are held for several days, even up to five days, and the number of guests could reach hundreds.

In early 2024, Furama Resort will host weddings of three Indian couples, and each event will last for many days and welcome hundreds of guests, he noted, considering this as a positive sign for the city’s wedding tourism./.VNA