Entertainment
Indians love Goa, Italy for gastronomic holidays: Survey
New Delhi, Nov 30 (IANS) Goa and Italy are on top of the mind for Indians when they plan gastronomic holidays, reveals a survey.
The finding is part of travel site TripAdvisor’s second edition of its annual 2017 India Gastronomy Survey. The survey was conducted with an aim to uncover key habits and preferences of Indians with respect to dining out, and how much food influences holiday planning.
One of the results of the survey — conducted online in the third week of November among TripAdvisor’s India survey panel — indicates that three out of five Indians are set to undertake a gastronomic getaway in 2018.
Indians frequent restaurants often (35 per cent ‘one to two’ times per month and 33 per cent once per week), but it gains more importance while travelling as 48 per cent of the respondents said dining out and restaurant selection is important to their overall trip experience.
As many as 74 per cent respondents said they have either planned or intend to plan a gastronomic getaway soon to a destination specifically ‘to try the food it is famous’ for and 71 per cent of them said they even have plans to visit a ‘particular restaurant’ at their travel spot,
Within India, Goa is a top favourite with 49 per cent voting for it, followed by Kerala (35 per cent) and Lucknow (33 per cent) as places people would love to visit specifically for their cuisine.
Abroad, Italy takes the lead with 90 per cent, with Thailand (34 percent) and France (26 per cent) as other options.
“India is a gastronomical paradise with its wide array of cuisines and it is said that there is no better way to experience Indian culture than through food.
“The findings from the 2017 India Gastronomic Survey underscore the importance of food on holiday and that Indians are only set to become even more thoughtful about the foodie experiences they have whether they are travelling domestically or overseas,” Nikhil Ganju, Country Manager, TripAdvisor India, said in a statement.
–IANS
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Entertainment
Casino Days Reveal Internal Data on Most Popular Smartphones
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.
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.
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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