Singapore - the Asian Tiger
Singapore is the great economic success story in South East Asia. The former British colony declared independence from the United Kingdom in 1963 and joined with Malaysia shortly afterwards. Following disagreement with the Malaysian policy of positive discrimination for ethnic Malays, Singapore and Malaysia parted company in 1965. At that time, Singapore found itself isolated from its main trading partners and facing economic ruin.
In response to this, the Singaporean government put in place a programme of intense industrialisation supported by some of the most business friendly policies within the region. The result has been that Singapore enjoyed some of the fastest economic growth in modern times and the countries GDP is one of the highest gross per capita rate in the world.
Incredibly, Singapore has managed to propel itself into one of the strongest economies in the world and at the same time avoid the systematic corruption and abuse that all of its neighbours in Asia suffer from. Singapore has been recognised as a one of the most transparent and least corrupt economies in the world. It has a leading role to play within South East Asian business and is recognised around the world for its strong banking and financial services sector.
The result of all this is that Singapore is a modern, clean and safe city that is unmatched in Asia. Visitors to the city state are able to enjoy all of the benefits of a modern city whilst at the same time take in some of the colonial history of the city, best seen through a visit to the world famous Raffles Hotel.
One of the best and most popular ways in which to enjoy Singapore is as a stopover visit when undertaking a long haul flight from Europe to Australia and New Zealand. Singapore airlines lead the way in the provision of top class service within the airline industry. The airline regularly wins awards as best airlines from reader polls within the travel sector.