Already in 1992 David Bowie and Iman Abdulmajid exchanged vows in Florence, in the American church of San Giacomo. Then there were Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes on Lake Bracciano, George Clooney and Amal Alamuddin at Palazzo Papadopol in Venice, Kim Kardashian and Kanye West at Forte Belvedere in Florence, Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel at Borgo Egnazia in Puglia… I’m just some of the foreign marriages in Italy that have “made school” and – even if in some cases they are already finished – have pushed and will push many foreigners to say yes in Italy. And we are not just talking about VIPs and the super rich, given that in 2022 there were 11,000 marriages of foreigners in Italy. The data emerge from the Destination Weddings in Italy Observatory, conducted by the Centro Studi Turistici, financed by the Ministry of Tourism, and presented in Rome by Enit and the Convention Bureau Italia. With this in mind, Italy for Weddings will be held on 6 and 7 February at the Reggia di Venaria, near Turin. Based on the length of stay of couples and guests at the ceremony (3.3 nights on average), 619,000 arrivals are estimated for 2022 and over 2 million tourists connected to destination weddings, equal to an estimated turnover of 599 million euros, about 11% more than the levels estimated in 2019. Tuscany is confirmed as the Italian region most in demand by foreign couples, with 21% of the total: followed by Lombardy, Campania, Puglia, Sicily, Lazio. In 2022, the United States was the main country of origin (29.2%) of foreign couples who decided to celebrate their wedding in Italy, but over 57% of the events were generated by married couples residing in European countries. The tourist movement generated by Italian spouses within our borders is also relevant: it is estimated that in 2022 there were more than 7,160 weddings of Italian couples celebrated in a region other than their own. Honeymoons in Italy are also very popular: in 2019 foreign couples spent 195 million euros, while in 2021, due to Covid, they dropped to 49 million. According to a recent study by Kuoni, through the analysis of 450 TikTok hashtags, Italy is the second most trendy honeymoon destination in the world, after the Maldives and before Bali. The 3 countries combined total nearly 10 million views combined. For the Maldives 3.5 million views under the hashtag #Maldiveshoneymoon. For Italy 3.3 million views showing honeymoons across the country. Among European destinations, Italy is home to 3 of the top 5 trending honeymoon destinations: Positano, Rome and the Amalfi Coast. “Made in Italy with all its supply chains and peculiarities can give real added value to those who choose to get married in Italy and we are happy to start the year again by talking about this sector. At the moment we have very encouraging data on tourism and data, I would say extraordinary, for the American market which is very important for Italy and exceeded the 2019 data” says Maria Elena Rossi, Marketing and Promotion director of Enit. “The Wedding sector still has very important growth margins and we are starting to see the results of our efforts as the international public is starting to choose new destinations and regions that were not previously taken into consideration” says Carlotta Ferrari, president of Convention Bureau Italia .
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