Their mission: Bringing more destination weddings to Las Vegas

By: McKenna Ross | Las Vegas Review-Journal

As destination weddings become more popular globally, Las Vegas industry members are considering ways to capture the growing market.

The Vegas-area received 1.6 million wedding visitors in 2023, according to new industry trends released by the Vegas Wedding Chamber. The industry generated $2.2 billion in economic activity.

The Clark County Marriage License Bureau issued 74,275 marriage licenses last year, up from 73,143 in 2019. But the local industry is still fighting to regain the attention of top out-of-state markets — namely, California and Europe — after the pandemic’s travel shifts.

Clark County Clerk Lynn Marie Goya said the industry is seeing some slow returns to pre-pandemic metrics. International couples used to make up about 20 percent of marriage licenses issued. In 2023, the share of international couples’ Vegas nuptials reached 16.5 percent, up from about 15 percent in 2022.

The top home countries for those couples were the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany and France.

That’s important as the industry’s chamber of commerce determines strategies to improve its market share in destination weddings. Vegas has long had a reputation as a place for quickie, value-driven ceremonies. Goya said those can be considered destination weddings, too, but the growth potential is in the luxury market.

“There’s almost two markets — one that wants to go to the castle and invite a hundred of their friends and it’s as luxurious as you can imagine,” Goya said. “We don’t do a lot of those yet. I think we could do more.”

Destination weddings are projected to increase by 13.1 percent globally over the next 10 years. The market value is also expected to skyrocket from $30 billion in 2023 to $103.5 billion in 2033, according to research firm Future Market Insights. Those couples typically choose destination weddings to enjoy a celebratory vacation and smaller yet lavish weddings, the firm said.

In the U.S., Las Vegas has to fight against Miami, New York, Nashville and Maui for its share of destination wedding travelers. Internationally, the destination is up against Mexico and the Caribbean.

In those destinations, resorts and travel agents offer more all-inclusive packages. Goya said industry members could partner to establish their own.

“What we’re seeing in other destinations is a lot more packages,” she said. “So it’s easier for couples to say, ‘OK, I have $10,000 or $20,000. And here’s what I can get for that.’ It’s a little bit harder in Las Vegas to do that. We absolutely have packages for the wedding itself, but we need to work a little harder in creating that entire package so it’s easier for couples to compare apples to apples rather than apples to oranges.”