Indians love Switzerland - Bollywood star therefore gets own train
In 2017, more Indian tourists came to Switzerland than ever before - and the trend is rising. Tourism marketing with Ranveer Singh, Bollywood star and brand ambassador of Switzerland Tourism (ST) in India, is bearing fruit. In gratitude, a train has now been named after Singh.
Singh, who has served as brand ambassador since 2016, is on a visit to Switzerland. In recognition of the great importance of Swiss panorama trains for Indian tourists and as a thank you for Ranveer Singh's contribution to the success of Swiss tourism marketing in India, an MOB (Compagnie du chemin de fer Montreux Oberland Bernois) train was christened in the star's name in Zweisimmen on Monday. The train should inspire even more Indian guests to discover the Golden Pass line. This is part of the approximately 1,280 km Grand Train Tour of Switzerland along Switzerland's most beautiful panoramic routes.
Together with its partners Swiss Travel System AG (STS) and MOB, ST therefore unveiled a specially designed train on the Goldenpass line today. Ranveer Singh christened the train in a ceremony at Zweisimmen station, joined on site by Martin Nydegger (Director of Switzerland Tourism) and Maurus Lauber (CEO STS).
Record growth from India - more and more individual tourists
In 2017, the Indian market generated more than 739,000 hotel room nights, an all-time high and a whopping 23.4 percent increase on the previous year. In addition, public transport is becoming increasingly popular with Indian tourists: sales of the Swiss Travel Pass (GA for foreign tourists) in India amounted to almost CHF 15 million in 2017. Since 2010, growth of as much as 125 percent has been recorded here. An indicator of the steadily increasing shares of individual travelers. ST currently estimates that 55 percent of hotel overnight stays from India come from individual guests.
Image change thanks to Ranveer Singh
"From traditional film nostalgia destination to hip adventure travel destination for active, younger and urban target groups: this image change of Switzerland in India is thanks to the promotion with Ranveer Singh," Martin Nydegger (Director ST) is pleased to say. Around 120 million followers and fans will again follow Ranveer's Swiss experiences via social media. Previous visits have taken the star to Zurich, Graubünden, Central Switzerland and the Bernese Oberland. In addition to Zweisimmen, in the Bernese Oberland popular with Indians, Singh is getting to know the Lake Geneva area this year, a Swiss region still less familiar to Indian guests (market share in 2017 6 percent of all hotel overnight stays from India).
