Singapore

Singapore, officially the Republicof Singapore, is an island city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, 137 kilometres (85 mi) north of the equator, south of the Malaysian state of Johor and north of Indonesia's Riau Islands.

Singaporeis the world's fourth leading financial centreand its economy is often ranked amongst the world's top ten most open, competitive and innovative. The country is also a highly cosmopolitan World City, with a key role in international trade and finance.

Singaporehas a diverse population of 5 million people made up of Chinese, Malays, Indians, Asians and Caucasians of different ethnic origins.

Singaporeis a popular travel destination, making tourism one of its largest industries. About 7.8 million tourists visited in 2006. Total visitor arrivals were 10.2 million in 2007. To attract more tourists, the government decided to legalize gambling and to allow two casino resorts (euphemistically called Integrated Resorts) to be developed at Marina South and Sentosa in 2005. To compete with regional rivals like Bangkok, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Shanghai, the government has announced that the city area would be transformed into a more exciting place by lighting up the civic and commercial buildings. Food has also been promoted as an attraction for tourists, with the Singapore Food Festival held every July to celebrate Singapore's cuisine.

Singapore is also promoting itself as a medical tourism hub: about 200,000 foreigners seek medical care in the country each year, and Singapore medical services aim to serve one million foreign patients annually by 2012 and generate USD 3 billion in revenue. The government states that this could create some 13,000 new jobs within the health industries.