Indian Marriages Are Now Made In Mauritius

NEW DELHI : With destination weddings catching up amongst rich Indian families, which in turn rakes in good money for hotels and others, Mauritius, the Indian Ocean island that is home to a sizable Indian diaspora, is targeting this segment in a serious manner, a senior official said.

"We have started talking to wedding planners in India. We took a group of wedding planners from here to Mauritius and plan to take another group soon to showcase what Mauritius offers," Mauritius Tourism Development Authority (MTDA) deputy director Vijaye Haulder said.

Haulder, whose forefathers hailed from West Bengal and settled in Mauritius several generations ago, is here to conduct road shows in four Indian cities - Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Bangalore. He said Indian wedding planners or organisers would also be given handsome incentives that are offered to meetings, conferences and exhibitions (MICE) operators from India. "Duty free liquor is also offered," he added.

Mauritius is a well-known wedding destination for European celebrities and sportspersons. "In the case of Europeans or other nationalities, the wedding group would be not more than 10-15 people. In many cases only the to-be-married couple would come here. But Indian weddings are different," Haulder said.

He said the size of Indian wedding groups coming to Mauritius ranges between 350 and 800. Such a large size bodes well for Air Mauritius - the sole airline flying direct to Mauritius out of India - the hotels and other tourist players there.

Haulder said around 8-10 Indian weddings are now being held in Mauritius. According to him, annually around 10 celebrity weddings happen in Mauritius. The celebrities are from varied fields - movie actors (China, Japan, Hollywood), football players and others.

Queried about promoting such weddings among Indian celebrities, he said: "We are open. We can have it free of cost. It would be a brand building exercise for us among Indians."

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