A marriage of convenience

Foreign tourism boards are tying up with matrimonial websites to lure honeymooners.

A number of international tourism boards are seeking alliances with matrimonial websites in India to promote themselves as the ideal honeymoon destination.

The India offices of Malaysia Tourism, Australia Tourism, Singapore Tourism and Queensland Tourism would all like Indian newly-weds to give a filip to tourism in their countries and to that end, are talking to Indian matrimonial websites to see whether they can offer honeymoon packages to couples.

Tying up with a matrimonial website gives these tourism boards a focussed audience. Besides, these websites are visited not just by young men and women looking for a partner, but also by their parents and relatives.

Thus, these tourism boards get a wider target group. For instance, www.shaadi.com has over 10 million registered members and gets over 300 million page views per month.

Last year, Tourism Australia, joined hands with Shaadi.com for a month-long campaign from December 2006 to January 2007. The website got 600 people expressing interest, of which around 100 honeymooners bought packages.

"It was a successful campaign and we are exploring opportunities with other matrimonial websites again this year," says Maggi White, general manager, south east Asia and Gulf Countries.

Also, advertising on matrimonial websites is cost effective. For instance, while Tourism Malaysia would shell out around Rs 10 lakh to advertise in print and Rs 5 lakh for a 10 second prime-time slot on a television channel, advertising on a matrimonial website would cost only Rs 1 lakh.

But it's not only honeymoon packages that Indian newly-weds are lapping up. With rising disposable incomes, a lot of couples are opting to get married on foreign shores.

Taking advantage of this, Tourism Malaysia is promoting itself as a wedding destination. It is offering honeymoon packages at anywhere between Rs 70,000 and Rs 3 lakh and wedding packages starting from Rs 50 lakh and going up to Rs 5 crore and more.

Says an analyst, "The honeymoon market is one where people have a huge propensity to spend. Since matrimonial websites get hits from all age groups, tourism boards can sell products not only to the target group but also to others."

Paul Buggy, director, Korea, India, Middle East, South Africa and inbound, Tourism Queensland, agrees. "We believe that our presence on a matrimonial website will give us more visibility. Honeymooners being net savvy, an online promotion is generally successful."

In Queensland, the Gold Coast and Cairns are popular honeymoon destinations. A special package for honeymooners includes experiences like a ride on a hot air balloon in Cairns and a journey to the Great Barrier Reef and the Tropical Rainforests.

"Even luxury and exotic options like Hamilton Island and Hayman Islands are also picking up very well. Honeymoon in Queensland is a complete celebration."

Though the travel and tour industry has not tracked the growth of India's honeymoon travel market, tourism boards say they get couples not only from the metros but also from smaller towns and cities like Aurangabad, Surat, Ludhiana, Lucknow and Nagpur to name a few.

And with the marriage season ready to kick-off this October, the newly-weds are just going to have many more options to chose from.