India has become the main market of wedding tourism in the world: Necip Fuat Ersoy, Managing Partner IMWF

At the ongoing International MICE and Wedding Forum (IMWF)  2019 in the resort city of Antalya, Necip Fuat Ersoy, Managing Partner IMWF said that India has become the main market of wedding tourism in the world.

"The Indian weddings are a segment in Turkey with high added value," Ersoy said.

He also said that following the last year's IMWF event, the demand for destination weddings in Turkey rose eight times compared to the previous year and that Turkey has already hosted five big Indian wedding events since the beginning of 2019.

Turkey experienced a “rather active” start for destination weddings and tourism events in 2019, and expects demands two or three times more compared to the last year, he stated.

Turkey has been intensely working to understand the Indian market for the last five years, according to Ersoy.  

Marking the international forum as an important platform to introduce the Turkish market to the world, he said Turkey registered a significant rise in sectoral demand after the 2018 forum.

"We want to complete this year with 20 Indian weddings”, he further added.

The world turnover of MICE sector exceeds $600 billion, while the destination wedding events turnover is over $300 billion, he shared.

The four-day IMWF2019 – which began its annual conference Monday in the resort city of Antalya – is attended by thought leaders and decision makers in the sector from India, Dubai and the Community of Independent States countries, including Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan.

The IMWF 2019 is organised with the support of the Turkish Ministry of Industry and Technology, partnership of Turkish Airlines and coordination of the IMWF and Western Mediterranean Development Agency.