Orchids at the Singapore Botanic Gardens
The historic Raffles Hotel is a national monument
Tourism in Singapore is a major industry and contributor to the Singaporean economy, attracting 17.4 million international tourists in 2017, more than 3 times Singapore's total population.[1] It is also environmentally friendly, and maintains natural and heritage conservation programs. Along with this, it also has one of the world's lowest crime rates. As English is the dominant one of its four official languages, it is generally easier for tourists to understand when speaking to the local population of the country, for example, when shopping. Transport in Singapore exhaustively covers most, if not all public venues in Singapore, which increases convenience for tourists. This includes the well-known Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system.
The Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report 2017 ranks Singapore 13th out of 136 countries overall, which was the third best in Asia only behind Japan (ranked 4th) and Hong Kong (ranked 11th). The report ranks Singapore's business environment, international openness, also travel and tourism policy, and enabling conditions as the best in the world (ranked 1st). However, the island nation scored rather low in the natural and cultural resources sub-index (ranked 40th).[2][3]
The Orchard Road district, which is dominated by multi-story shopping centers and hotels, can be considered the center of tourism in Singapore. Other popular tourist attractions include the Singapore Zoo, River Safari, and Night Safari, which allow people to explore Asian, African, and American habitats at night without any visible barriers between guests and wild animals. The Singapore Zoo has embraced the 'open zoo' concept whereby animals are kept in enclosures, separated from visitors by hidden dry or wet moats, instead of caging the animals, while the River Safari, features 10 different ecosystems around the world, including the River Nile, Yangtze River, Mississippi, Amazon as well as the Tundra and has 300 species of animals, including numerous endangered species.[4]
Jurong Bird Park is another zoological garden centered on birds, which is dedicated to exposing the public to as many species and varieties of birds from around the world as possible, including a flock of one thousand flamingos. The tourist island of Sentosa, which attracts 19 million visitors in 2011, is located in the south of Singapore and consists of about 20–30 landmarks, such as Fort Siloso, which was built as a fortress to defend against the Japanese during World War II.
Guns from the World War II era can be seen at Fort Siloso, from mini-sized to 16-pound (7 kg) guns. Moreover, the island has built the Tiger Sky Tower, which allows visitors to view the whole of Sentosa, as well as the Sentosa Luge, a small one- or two-person sled on which one sleigh supine and feet-first. Steering is done by shifting the weight or pulling straps attached to the sled's runners. Among the latest tourist attractions built in Singapore includes the two integrated resorts that house casinos, namely Marina Bay Sands and Resorts World Sentosa, a Universal Studios theme park, and Gardens by the Bay.