Planning your wedding? Why not get married in Italy? That’s what many people are choosing to do. According to Italian news agency ANSA, Italy’s marriage tourism industry grew to a 400€ million industry in 2015. Italy is now the second-most coveted wedding destination in the world after the tropical locale of Hawaii. Foreigners are choosing to marry in the country after having previously vacationed there, due to its cuisine, art, culture, wine, landscape and, undoubtedly, its romanticism. Forty-three percent of couples choose Tuscany for their destination wedding, followed by the Amalfi Coast (38%), Umbria (8%) and Venice and the Lakes (6%).
The boom in weddings benefits Italy’s general tourism industry as well, as 90% of couples choose to honeymoon in the country and return to celebrate their anniversaries. In addition, 90% would recommend their friends get married in Italy.
International couples stayed for an average of 3.5 days and spent an average of 50,000€ on each of 6,200 weddings in 2014, contributing to the industry’s total earnings of 350€ million for that year. Couples come from all over the world to get married in Italy: one-quarter of couples are Brits, while 15.4% were Americans and Canadians, 9.4% are Russians, 7.8% are Japanese, 5.2% are Australians, 6.3% are Saudi Arabians, 4.6% are Chinese, 4.2% are Brazilians and 1.5% are Germans. The other 21% are from Turkey, India, eastern Europe and developing countries.
By Kathy McCabe
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