Leading wedding planners from India, one of Turkey's new target market for tourism, will arrive in Turkey for a large-scale event to be held in November.
A comprehensive international workshop that will start in Istanbul and extend to Antalya will be organized in order to boost the rapidly developing "wedding tourism" sector in Turkey.
At the "Luxury MICE Workshop" event to be held by TravelShop Turkey & Murtis Tour, which is affiliated with the Turkish Travel Agencies Association (TÜRSAB), from Nov. 18-21, leading wedding tourism companies from around the world will hold B2B meetings with their Turkish counterparts.
Twenty countries from all over the world have so far registered to attend the event which will include the leading wedding planners of India. The country is one Turkey's target markets. The event aims to give a new impetus to the Indian wedding market in Turkey, which was mobilized after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's call during his visit to India last year.
In a statement to Anadolu Agency (AA), the event's organizer TravelShop Turkey & Murtis Tour General Manager Murtaza Kalender said a total of 200 people will take part in this event.
Kalender said that the participants will attend the workshop in Istanbul and then examine the hotels in the Antalya region.
"International buyers and sellers in the field of wedding tourism will be brought together in this event, which will include 50 of the most important wedding planners of India. They will have the opportunity to hold bilateral meetings when they arrive. Wedding planners and major tour operators will also take part, and it will be one of the most comprehensive events ever held," Kalender noted.
Kalender stressed that 20 countries have registered so far but that the number is expected to increase, adding that other countries including the United States, Britain, Germany, Italy, France, Spain, Iran, Algeria, Belarus, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Croatia, Jordan and Kenya will also attend, as well as India.
Pointing to the importance of wedding tourism for Turkey, Kalender stated that 30 million Indian tourists go abroad but only 100,000 of them come to Turkey, underlining that they aim to bring 1 million Indian tourists to Turkey in 2020. "All our work is in this direction. The budget that the Indians allocate for weddings ranges from $750,000 to $1 million. Nearly 500 Indian wedding ceremonies with serious budgets are held throughout Europe. In our country, 15 Indian weddings have been held so far. If flight-related problems are resolved, I believe that we will exceed 1 million Indian tourists because they love Turkey," Kalender said.
Murtaza Kalender also said that they will organize a "B2B Workshop" event for the 8th time in six different cities on October 7-14 in the rapidly developing Indian market. "We will hold this workshop organized by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism together with 25 companies from Turkey. In October, we will visit 2,000 Indian tour operators in India to explain Turkey as a destination. Our aim is to bring India's wedding and major meeting and congress tourism organizations, also known as MICE, to Turkey."
