Chinese Mass Wedding Ceremony in Colombo a huge success: Organisers

The Chinese mass wedding ceremony held in Colombo attracted 50 couples from various parts of China accompanied by a large contingent of their family and friends. The collective group of over 400 Chinese nationals that arrived specifically for this unique event spent over a week in Sri Lanka, spending valuable foreign exchange on local hotels and affiliated tourism services.

The costs of the wedding ceremony and other associated events were entirely borne by the organising companies both Chinese and Sri Lankan. The organisers however expressed their disappointment that the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau when approached at the latter stages considering the national significance of the event and cost escalation due to change of venue did not see any value in supporting this event. However, the Chinese Embassy extended its fullest support to the event, which the organizers said they were extremely grateful for.

The mass wedding ceremony that was conducted according to Sri Lankan customs drew worldwide media attention and was a welcome shot in the arm for Sri Lanka Tourism at a time Sri Lanka is looking to launch a major advertising campaign in China .The glittering event in Colombo was featured on prime time television broadcasts of all major global news outlets and a multitude of social media platforms over a 24 hour post event cycle, the combined media value of which if quantified in monetary terms would easily amount to millions of dollars. 

This is beside the printed media value component, which will spillover a post event period running into weeks and months. The exposure in China itself, the second largest tourism source market for Sri Lanka, was massive. The organisers hope to do regular events of this nature to help boost Chinese visitors to Sri Lanka. 

Pix by Sameera Wijesinghe