Turkey looks forward to hosting more Indian weddings

ANKARA

One of India’s leading wedding planners, a new target market for Turkish tourism, will visit Turkey for an international event in November.

Turkey will host an international B2B Luxury MICE Workshop in Istanbul from Nov. 18-21. MICE stands for meetings, incentives, conferencing and exhibitions, which is a type of tourism where large groups are brought together for a particular purpose.

The event—organized by the TravelShop Turkey & Murtis Tour of the Association of Turkish Travel Agencies (TÜRSAB)—aims to revive wedding tourism in the country.

It will also offer a chance to participants to hold business to business (B2B) meetings with their Turkish colleagues.

The event is expected to add momentum to the Indian wedding market, after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s call during his visit to India last year.

So far, 200 people from 20 countries have registered for the event, TravelShop Turkey & Murtis Tour Director-General Murtaza Kalender told state-run Anadolu Agency.

Apart from India, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, France, Spain, Iran, Algeria, Belarus, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Croatia, Jordan and Kenya will be among the participants, he added.

One of most comprehensive events

Kalender said the participants will also visit hotels in the Mediterranean province of Antalya as part of the workshop.

“This event, which will include the 50 most important wedding planners of India, will bring international buyers and exhibitors in the field of wedding tourism together,” he added.

“It will be one of the most comprehensive events,” the agency head said.

Turkey expects to host one million Indian tourists in 2020, Kalender said, adding that only 100,000 out of 30 million Indian tourists visit Turkey each year.

Indian wedding expenses range from $750,000 to $1 million and Europe hosts 500 Indian weddings annually, while the number is at 15 for Turkey, according to Kalender.

“If the problems with the flights are solved, I believe we can even exceed one million Indian tourists, because they love Turkey,” he said.

Turkey to be introduced in six Indian cities

Kalender said the B2B Workshop was going to be held for the eighth time in six different cities in India from Oct. 7-14.

“We will hold this workshop, in cooperation with the Culture and Tourism Ministry, with 25 firms from Turkey,” he said.

He also added that their aim was to attract weddings, MICE and congress tourism organizations to Turkey.