ALAPPUZHA: The wedding planners in the state are upbeat over the diluted liquor policy with the tourism season gaining momentum. Kerala Tourism had been promoting the state as a wedding destination and now the wedding planners hope to cash in on the new policy.
According to Shahid Mather, a noted wedding planner, foreigners conduct liquor parties during wedding celebrations.
Mostly non-resident Indians in the UK and the US are interested in wedding tourism in Kerala, especially in houseboats.
Rajesh Gopinath, a wedding planner from Kochi, said liquor parties are inevitable for all the weddings. Foreign tourists had ditched God’s Own Country because of the previous liquor policy.
The revised policy would boost wedding tourism, he said. Foreigners prefer to conduct weddings on beaches, deserts, mountains and houseboats, he added.
As part of promoting the state as an exclusive MICE and wedding tourism destination, the government had slashed luxury tax (LT) from 20 per cent to 10 per cent for convention centres and auditoriums.
The state attracted 8,58,143 foreign and over one crore domestic tourists in 2013, according to the tourism department data.
Mr Binu Joseph, a wedding planner here, said other wedding destinations were benefiting from the government’s earlier liquor policy. “The dilution in the policy will help us,” he added.
