Mass Chinese wedding highlights Sri Lanka’s wish to become the island of love
Fifty couples tie the knot in island’s capital as tourism authorities highlight its appeal as a wedding venue
Fifty couples from China tied the knot in the Sri Lankan capital on Sunday in a mass wedding ceremony, conducted according to the island’s Buddhist traditions, as the island aims to woo more tourists.
The couples included newly weds as well as already married couples aiming to re-dedicate their marriages, officials said.
Some were dressed in the traditional attire of Sri Lanka’s mountainous central region while others wore Chinese or Western clothes at the main ceremony in the central Colombo area.
“There’ll be many more couples who want to come here and celebrate true marriages from China and other parts of the world,” Tourism Minister John Amaratunga told Reuters.
“It’ll be an opening to say Sri Lanka is the best destination for foreigners.”
Chinese tourist arrivals in Sri Lanka have been rising and now account for around 13 per cent of the two million tourists a year who visit the country, second only to the number of Indian visitors, official figures show.