The concept of ‘big fat weddings’ in India is not new. And these weddings are a great source of income for the country’s hospitality sector. The lavish weddings of overseas Indian families, however, have given a boost to the wedding tourism sector of South Africa, as the nation witnessed a 27% surge in the number of Indian tourists last year.
About 81,500 Indian nationals visited South Africa till October 2016, of which around 5,000 were from Chennai.
Commenting on this development, Hanneli Slabber, country head, South African Tourism – India, said, “Weddings (happening in South Africa) is more a Chennai market than Bengaluru. The smallest wedding that we have done from Chennai was for a group of 60 people,” she said replying to a query on south Indian weddings. The biggest marriage party, wherein the bride hailing from Chennai, had a congregation of 550 people, she added.
