Abstract:
Wedding tourism has increased popularity over the past decade and is recognized as a significant market segment with a possibility of enhancing effectiveness of the industry by amalgamating two segments as one destination. This is niche market, which has not been yet capitalized and can be developed as a diversified tourism product and the effects of seasonality can be minimized. Hence, this study was taken into identify the potential to develop Sri Lanka as an international wedding tourism destination. Primary data was collected from 40 foreign wedding couples and 10 Sri Lankan wedding handlers applying judgemental sampling method and interview method accordingly. Colombo and Negambo area was the research area for data collection. Both quantitative and qualitative techniques were used. The findings reflect that there is a positive perception between foreign wedding couples Sri Lanka as a wedding destination. The wedding tourism industry has many issues and the challenges. The major challenges are lack of involvement by the government and government rules and the regulations, lack of properties in the industry and no sufficient educate staff in the industry. The current situation in wedding tourism industry in Sri Lanka is growing with the new trends like low cost weddings, traditional Sri Lankan weddings, and Indian weddings. In conclusion, the industry should be realized the real significance of wedding tourism in Sri Lankan context and there is a potential to develop international wedding tourism industry in Sri Lanka through the existing resources of Sri Lanka.
