SINGAPORE, August 26, 2024: There is a huge demand for “weddings abroad” in the Asia Pacific region, with Indians topping the list of nationalities looking to get married in popular overseas destinations.

Skyscanner, a leading global travel app, recently conducted a survey in partnership with OnePoll targeting adults who are planning or have already celebrated their wedding. The results showed that 68% of wedding-interested adults in Asia Pacific are planning or have already celebrated a destination wedding, with Indians leading the pack ahead of Singaporeans, Koreans and Australians.

Key findings

• A significant proportion of adults in Asia Pacific (about 30%) are willing to spend 26-50% more for a wedding abroad than for a traditional ceremony in their hometown.

• When it comes to choosing a location, adults from the Asia-Pacific region prefer regions close to home. Respondents from India, Singapore and South Korea prefer Asia, and those from Australia cite Oceania as their first choice.

• In terms of planning tools, around a third of respondents said they use social media to help plan their overseas wedding. In addition, over 20% of respondents from each market are considering using online travel agents, while a smaller percentage are turning to travel metasearch engines and AI-powered search tools.

The survey involved 2,000 people from Australia, 2,000 from India, 1,000 from Singapore and 1,000 from South Korea, all aged 18 and over. About three in four Indian respondents had been to a wedding abroad. Two-thirds of South Koreans, on the other hand, had never been to a wedding and more than half of Australian respondents had not either.

In the Asia-Pacific region, costs are crucial

Parental consent is the most important factor for Indians, while in Australia, Singapore and South Korea, over 75% of wedding planners cite cost and budget as their top priority when choosing a destination. In contrast, in India, while cost/budget is the third most important factor (41%), parental consent (50%) and tradition/culture are more important (44%).