Wedding planning projected to grow to a P1-B industry

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Association of Wedding Planners (PWAP) expects the industry to grow to over P1 billion in the near term, a top official said.

“The wedding industry is booming. It has a lot of potential to grow substantially over the next years. We are now even going global. We have lots of Filipino talents to be proud of,” PWAP president Liza Alviedo said.

She said there are now over 2,000 wedding events held every month in different parts of the country.

Alviedo said the exponential growth in the country’s tourism industry could also help boost the wedding business.

“We should take advantage of the booming tourism industry. We should promote the wonderful tourism destinations which could also be ideal for wedding venues. We have Davao, Cebu, Bohol not to mention other beautiful places in Luzon,” she said.

 Alviedo said the wedding industry, just like tourism, could also spur economic activities.

“Weddings could also have trickle-down effects on the economy. In one wedding we could hire caterers, florists, musicians, photographers, and many more,” she said.

She said a wedding client spends an average of P500,000 to P1 million.

PWAP, for its part, is currently holding roadshows and is actively participating in expositions in Singapore, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Australia, Canada, US, and several countries in Europe.

“We want to go about this slowly and first go to places with large Filipino communities. There is a big market out there just waiting to be tapped.  It will have to be a step-by-step process wherein our members and fellow wedding suppliers will eventually be able to maximize their reach,” Alviedo said.

She said their first stop this year will be the Philippine Wedding Expo @ Singapore in July which is being organized by local firm Destination Events and Business Solutions (DEBS).

Alviedo said they are partnering with the upstart events company for the Singapore wedding expo because of their shared vision of promoting the country’s wedding industry internationally.

“Singapore is a bit different from other countries with a large overseas Filipino workers (OFW) presence as our countrymen there are working in offices with some of them having middle management positions or higher. It is a market with a capacity to spend for their weddings,” Alviedo said.

She said PAWP, whose members are based in key cities across the country and have the ability to organize weddings domestically or abroad, is potentially expecting to get at least 150 contracts combined from the expo.

Latest Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) data ranked Singapore third in the total number of OFWs, after Saudi Arabia and UAE.

Over the past several years, the PAWP has been actively supporting the Department of Tourism’s campaign to make the Philippines one of the preferred wedding destinations in the world.