The emergence of Tuscany as a wedding destination: the role of local wedding planners

ABSTRACT

This study concerns the development of Tuscany as a destination for wedding tourism. The focus is on local entrepreneurs—specifically local wedding planners—and the aim is to describe and discuss their role as coordinators and innovators. The findings suggest that local wedding planners act as coordinators of teams of local practitioners. Beyond the local level, wedding planners experience difficulties in finding collaborative partners; in relation to this, a recently developed regional project could prove supportive. The wedding planners’ role as potential innovators seems to be limited due to the lack of market orientation by some local authorities, the newness of wedding planning as a form of employment in the Italian context and the related lack of recognized legitimacy, the presence of some improvising wedding service companies and the absence of certified professional associations.

KEYWORDS:

• wedding tourism
• destination life cycle
• networking
• innovation
• entrepreneurship