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Ranveer Singh drives tourism growth in Switzerland

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By Nivedita
New Delhi, Jan 25 (IANS) Yash Chopra’s romantic Bollywood sagas boosted the popularity of Switzerland like never before. Now, actor Ranveer Singh as the country’s ambassador in India, has managed to drive a 25 per cent growth rate in the overnights in the Alpine nation, said a top official.

Ranveer, currently being talked about for his role as the villainous Alauddin Khilji in “Padmaavat”, was in 2016 appointed Switzerland’s first Indian ambassador.

“We couldn’t be luckier to have Ranveer Singh as our brand and country ambassador. He has really boosted the image of Switzerland in terms of tourism to make it younger, fresher, more exciting and more active. This is exactly how we want to position Switzerland in future to place it as the most desirable outdoor destination and he is helping us in doing just that,” Martin Nydegger, the newly appointed CEO of Switzerland Tourism, told IANS in an email interview.

“We reported a new record of 25 per cent growth rate in the overnights. We are absolutely convinced that it is certainly due to the efforts to get with Ranveer,” he added.

Their arms are open for Bollywood associations.

“We are very happy to extend and continue with Ranveer Singh in 2018 and we are very much looking forward to that. We would always welcome all the production companies, stars and all the whole of Bollywood industry to continue shooting in Switzerland,” Nydegger said.

India is a rapidly growing market for the Switzerland tourism industry.

“Some 18 years ago in the year 2000, it started with around 200,000 overnights and soon we are reaching 750,000 and that’s an enormous growth. In the last three years, we had a growth of roughly 53 per cent and in 2017 alone, the growth rate was a good 25 per cent. We predict a growth rate of another 33 per cent in the next 3-4 years,” he said.

India ranks seventh in importance among all the countries for Switzerland in terms of tourism.

“Footfalls from the Indian market is extremely important to us in terms of numbers but even more important to us because of the travel season. With Indian holidays beginning in April-May, we have maximum Indian tourists visiting during the summer, which is a low global tourist season for us in Switzerland.

“Having said that, we would love to see Indians travel during our other peak holiday seasons such as autumn and winter to experience the season then,” he said.

He believes while Bollywood has given Indians a traditional view of Switzerland, there is a lot more that it has to offer.

“Indians know Switzerland in a traditional manner from Bollywood and lovely pictures of nature and romance. We would now like to show Switzerland in a more variety of viewpoints and extend that to new seasons like autumn which has beautiful colours and fits perfectly in the vacation plan of Diwali.

“Also, for winter travellers, we have specially created programmes such as the ‘First Ski Experience’ which is a very easy skiing programme for beginners.

“Apart from that we also have the Grand Tour of Switzerland which is basically the ‘Route 66’ of Switzerland. There is no better way to experience Switzerland in its variety, different languages and cultures and to roam through city and urban areas, alpine landscapes and lakes than the Grand Tour of Switzerland,” he added.

For Nydegger, India was one of the first offices Switzerland Tourism established in the foreign market, so for him, the countries “have a long-standing relationship”.

(Nivedita can be contacted at [email protected])

–IANS
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Casino Days Reveal Internal Data on Most Popular Smartphones

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CasinoDays India

International online casino Casino Days has published a report sharing their internal data on what types and brands of devices are used to play on the platform by users from the South Asian region.

Such aggregate data analyses allow the operator to optimise their website for the brands and models of devices people are actually using.

The insights gained through the research also help Casino Days tailor their services based on the better understanding of their clients and their needs.

Desktops and Tablets Lose the Battle vs Mobile

The primary data samples analysed by Casino Days reveal that mobile connections dominate the market in South Asia and are responsible for a whopping 96.6% of gaming sessions, while computers and tablets have negligible shares of 2.9% and 0.5% respectively.

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The authors of the study point out that historically, playing online casino was exclusively done on computers, and attribute thе major shift to mobile that has unfolded over time to the wide spread of cheaper smartphones and mobile data plans in South Asia.

“Some of the reasons behind this massive difference in device type are affordability, technical advantages, as well as cheaper and more obtainable internet plans for mobiles than those for computers,” the researchers comment.

Xiaomi and Vivo Outperform Samsung, Apple Way Down in Rankings

Chinese brands Xiaomi and Vivo were used by 21.9% and 20.79% of Casino Days players from South Asia respectively, and together with the positioned in third place with a 18.1% share South Korean brand Samsung dominate the market among real money gamers in the region.

 

CasinoDays India

Cupertino, California-based Apple is way down in seventh with a user share of just 2.29%, overshadowed by Chinese brands Realme (11.43%), OPPO (11.23%), and OnePlus (4.07%).

Huawei is at the very bottom of the chart with a tiny share just below the single percent mark, trailing behind mobile devices by Motorola, Google, and Infinix.

The data on actual phone usage provided by Casino Days, even though limited to the gaming parts of the population of South Asia, paints a different picture from global statistics on smartphone shipments by vendors.

Apple and Samsung have been sharing the worldwide lead for over a decade, while current regional leader Xiaomi secured their third position globally just a couple of years ago.

Striking Android Dominance among South Asian Real Money Gaming Communities

The shifted market share patterns of the world’s top smartphone brands in South Asia observed by the Casino Days research paper reveal a striking dominance of Android devices at the expense of iOS-powered phones.

On the global level, Android enjoys a comfortable lead with a sizable 68.79% share which grows to nearly 79% when we look at the whole continent of Asia. The data on South Asian real money gaming communities suggests that Android’s dominance grows even higher and is north of the 90% mark.

Among the major factors behind these figures, the authors of the study point to the relative affordability of and greater availability of Android devices in the region, especially when manufactured locally in countries like India and Vietnam.

“And, with influencers and tech reviews putting emphasis on Android devices, the choice of mobile phone brand and OS becomes easy; Android has a much wider range of products and caters to the Asian online casino market in ways that Apple can’t due to technical limitations,” the researchers add.

The far better integration achieved by Google Pay compared to its counterpart Apple Pay has also played a crucial role in shaping the existing smartphone market trends.

 

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