Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Sept 20: The wedding ceremony of Rajvir and Jaspreet at Pahalgam yesterday has brought to focus the scope of Kashmir being promoted as a wedding destination as well.
The family travelled all the way from Canada to make the occasion memorable on the banks of Lidder surrounded all around by lush green forests.
Industry insiders say that buoyed by the confidence of a record tourist footfall many NRIs and other families are now planning their weddings in Kashmir given the romantic and nostalgic appeal the place has for people across the globe. This summer saw the grand wedding of prominent national executive at Srinagar.
Tourism Department on its part is supporting this new trend with all seriousness. The department has flagged this new trend for replication on a bigger scale.
“Jammu & Kashmir is a beautiful place. People can come here not only to enjoy the mesmerizing locales but also to perform and celebrate their weddings at dream destinations here. In fact we are in touch with local hoteliers in this regard”, said Sarmad Hafeez, Secretary, Tourism Department.
Currently cities and destinations like Jaipur, Jodhpur, Udaipur, Musoori, Lonavala are the favourite wedding destinations across the country. The economic potential of destination wedding market in the country is pegged to be around Rs. 25, 0000 crore. With the enlisting of Kashmir as another wedding destination, it is all set to give tourism here a big boost.
Jammu & Kashmir in the last one year or so has seen the arrival of MICE, corporate bookings and Film tourism besides the traditional leisure and adventure tourism. Holding of destination weddings now is going to further broaden the spectrum of tourism services and products.
“In several of our meetings with local hoteliers, we have asked them to induct facilities for dream weddings and tie up with leading Wedding Planners and Event managers of the country to sell the place as a prominent wedding destination which certainly would give a big boost to the local tourism”, adds Sarmad Hafeez.
Marriages, as they say, are made in heaven. But these are also now being celebrated in heaven (on Earth), Kashmir.
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