Britain and New Zealand have both recently legalized gay marriages, giving American couples that are seeking a destination wedding some options, according to NBC.
Same sex marriage will be legal in New Zealand beginning on August 19. One of the first gay couples to be married under the new law will be an Australian couple that won a promotional contest hosted by Air New Zealand. Air New Zealand is also looking for a Kiwi couple to get married onboard one of their aircraft during flight as a promotion.
The law in Britain won't allow same sex marriages until next summer, though the country's national tourism agency, VisitBritain, is already in planning mode.
"We've always rolled out a warm welcome for LGBT travelers," Sandi Dawe, the CEO of VisitBritain, said. "We hope this new law will result in an increase in tourism to Britain for gay and lesbian travelers who want to marry and honeymoon here."
VisitBritain is trying to help gay couples "conceptualize their own dream weddings," by issuing a list of gay-friendly wedding venues and locations, which include popular sites such as a castle in Wales, the Brighton Pier in England and the restaurant on top of 30 St. Mary Axe in London.
"I already have gay clients inquiring about planning a destination wedding for them in Britain," David Rubin, the CEO of DavidTravel, a luxury travel agency located in Corona del Mar, California, said.
Rubin has previously organized weddings and honeymoons for American couples in South Africa, Spain and in other countries where same-sex marriages are already legal. DavidTravel has also recently begun planning same sex weddings in France, which legalized marriage equality in May.
"Sweden - with the Ice Hotel - has been a great destination, and in Iceland we've had couples get married on top of a glacier," Rubin said. "Canada is easy: it's close by and same-sex weddings have been legal there since 2005."
There aren't any statistics on how many destination weddings take place or how much money people spend on them, but "the potential spending associated with gay marriage is quite simply immense," Ian Johnson, the founder and CEO of Out Now, a global lesbian and gay marketing and consulting firm. Johnson continued, saying that competition for the destination gay wedding and honeymoon marketing is heating up.
"Places that get this right now can expect a far bigger payoff than just the gay and lesbian people they will attract," Johnson said. "It will also affect the attitudes of wedding guests, friends, family and work colleagues of the happy couple, many of whom will choose to spend their travel dollars where all citizens are treated equally."
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
