The UAE, especially cities such as Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Ras Al Khaimah, have emerged as top choices for destination weddings for cash-rich Indian families this year, bringing brisk business to travel and hospitality players and event management firms in the UAE and also in India, industry insiders said.
Travel and hospitality players are fuelling the trend with specially curated luxury wedding packages for dream destinations, meticulously planning every detail and topping them up with specialised and customised travel arrangements and celebrity events for the offbeat, big fat Indian weddings.
This is also bringing additional demand to the already surging air traffic in the India-UAE sector on account of the year-end holiday rush, besides pushing up occupancy levels in hotels and resorts in these cities.
November-January is the peak season for weddings, especially in north India, and travel firms are reporting a significant spike in bookings and enquiries currently for wedding-related travels from several Indian cities.
“Compared to last year, we are already observing about a 23 per cent surge in Indian couples opting for destination weddings in UAE this year,” Rikant Pittie, Co-founder of EaseMyTrip UAE, a leading online travel platform operating in India and the Middle East, told Arabian Business.
“Regions like Dubai and Abu Dhabi have emerged as luxurious wedding destinations for Indian weddings due to their ease of travelling and accessibility,” he said.
Industry insiders said many Indian families also opt for Ras Al Khaimah for such destination weddings as the city is relatively more affordable compared to Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
Firms lure young couples with personalised itineraries, dedicated travel advisors
Besides the established players, GT Holidays, Diwas Wedding Planners, The Grand Indian Wedding, WedMeGood and DestinationPick are among a slew of firms and portals which offer dedicated and exotic packages to Indian families for conducting their destination weddings in Dubai and other cities in the UAE.
They offer personalised itineraries tailored to each couple’s unique vision for their ‘D-day’, besides offering dedicated travel advisors to ensure seamless execution of the events.
Industry players said Dubai – billed as the ‘city of gold’ – tops the list for Indian destination weddings, with more and more young and wealthy Indian would-be couples opting for a picturesque beach wedding, a dramatic desert ceremony, or an exclusive private island celebration in the emirate,
Some of the locations that are hot favourites among couples include One & Only Palm, Fairmont Ajman, Atlantis, Ritz Carlton, Emirates Palace, and Mandarin Oriental.
Budgets for this kind of weddings generally start from AED 1 million and above, they said.
Hotels also offer wedding planners to help families to seamlessly and effortlessly execute the destination wedding events.
“Planning a destination wedding in Dubai involves a lot of steps including preparing well in advance in regards to date, number of guests, venue, outsourcing services, and all the miscellaneous tasks.
“Hiring a wedding planner is the best way to get all the tasks done as they have more experience and contacts,” a senior executive at a top-end hospitality firm in Dubai said.
Interestingly, to add to the wedding festivities and enthrall guests, innovative travel and tourism players have also come up with combo offers for the Dubai Shopping Festival (DSF).
Players such as EaseMyTrip are also offering separate DSF packages, providing a practical guide for tourists and travellers, discussing travel hacks and discounts to enhance their shopping experiences.
“It’s not just about the shopping, it’s also about the experiences that draw travellers from across the globe [to Dubai] during this season,” Pittie said.
Senior executives at other travel and tourism firms in Dubai and Delhi said they also get enquiries from Indian families for additional packages for the over a month-long shopping extravaganza, along with their destination wedding packages in the UAE.
The Dubai shopping festival, currently underway, will last till January 12. 2025.
Business travel in UAE also on the rebound
Along with the surge in destination weddings, business travel in the UAE – and also the GCC region – is seeing a significant rebound this year, with travel firms reporting a surge in bookings and enquiries.
The rise in business travel is being driven by the belief among companies that business travel remains critical for growth, with over 90 per cent of travel decision-makers asserting its importance of late, they said.
The rise in demand for business travel is accompanied by technological advancements like AI-powered tools to manage travel expenses and enhance personalisation, making corporate travel more seamless.
“This strong business travel recovery is reflected in the broader growth of the travel sector in the UAE and GCC region, where corporate events and meetings are back in full swing,” Pittie said.
“Moreover, the concept of ‘bleisure’ travel – combining business with leisure – is also becoming increasingly popular,” he said.
The EaseMyTrip Co-founder said many professionals are now extending their business trips to explore destinations further, especially with flexible work-from-anywhere policies gaining traction.
According to the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA), global business travel spending is expected to surpass pre-pandemic levels this year, two years earlier than previously predicted.
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