A Swiss train company has temporarily named one of its trains after Bollywood actor Ranveer Singh in a bid to attract more Indian tourists to western Switzerland.
Ranveer, who is an ambassador for Switzerland Tourism, was present at the ceremony in Zweisimmen on Monday.
The train of the MOB railway company (Compagnie du chemin de fer Montreux Oberland Bernois) on the Golden Pass line between Montreux on Lake Geneva and the upscale resort of Gstaad will carry Ranveer’s name until the end of October.
The schedule and announcements will refer to the train as the Ranveer Singh train for the entire summer season.
“Ranveer hadn’t been to the Bernese Oberland or Lake Geneva region before and we wanted him to experience it. It is also a region that is not well known among Indian tourists and we hope the train will change that,” Switzerland Tourism spokesperson Markus Berger told swissinfo.ch.
Switzerland Tourism had engaged the services of Ranveer in 2016 to boost the country’s visibility and to convince more young Indians to visit the Alpine nation.
Ranveer is not the first Indian celebrity to have a Swiss train named after him.
In 2011, the Jungfrau Railways named one of their trains after late film director and producer Yash Chopra – an honour shared only with the railway’s founder, Adolf Guyer.
Chopra is widely credited with putting Switzerland on the Indian tourist radar with many of his films featuring a Swiss backdrop.