What Will Be the Shape of the Supersize Indian Wedding When It Returns?

Asian destinations that have been successful in attracting Indian weddings are heartbroken that the market vanished faster than a groom with cold feet due to the Covid-19 crisis. Destination marketers, wedding planners, and hoteliers catering to the market are also scratching their heads over what will become of these roaring events when new guidelines, such as social distancing, are the antithesis to the highly social nature of an Indian wedding. Fondly dubbed in Asia as The Big Fat Indian Wedding because of its size, scale, and superabundance, the Indian wedding industry is touted to be worth $50 billion a year. Some 10 to 12 million weddings are held annually, according to media reports citing a KPMG research. With people under 30 years old forming nearly half of India's 1.3 billion population, the industry was trumpeted as recession-proof and tipped to grow at 20 to 25 percent per year. Rising disposable income coupled with travel-thirsty Indian millennials transformed the industry, turning weddings into a year-round rather than seasonal affair and increasing the popularity of destination weddings. Although no data is available on the overall size of overseas destination weddings by Indians, Thailand's earnings reflects the bounty. The kingdom last year hosted around 400 weddings, each spending between $320,000 and just under $1 million (10 to 30 million baht), according to Pinki Arora, the marketing representative for India for the Tourism Authority, during a recent webinar organized by the Phuket Hotels Association. In 2019, Indian weddings bolstered Thai tourism coffers by $128 million (4,000 million baht). The average number