LONDON, July 23,
2024 /CNW/ -- Singapore breaks away from the peloton of
six countries that shared the top spot on the Henley Passport Index
as we entered the new year, reclaiming its title as the world's
most powerful passport in the latest ranking published today. The
city-state also sets a new record score, with its citizens now
enjoying access to 195 travel destinations out of 227 around the
world visa-free. France,
Germany, Italy, Japan,
and Spain drop to
joint-2nd place, each with visa-free access to 192
destinations, and an unprecedented seven-nation cohort, each with
access to 191 destinations without a prior visa — Austria, Finland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, South
Korea, and Sweden — now sit
in 3rd place on the ranking, which is based on exclusive
and official data from the International Air Transport Association
(IATA).
The UK hangs onto 4th place along with Belgium, Denmark, New
Zealand, Norway, and
Switzerland, despite its visa-free
destination score falling to 190. The US, on the other hand,
continues its now decade-long slide down the index, dropping to
8th spot, with access to just 186 destinations
visa-free. Former passport powerhouses, the UK and the US jointly
held 1st place on the index 10 years ago in 2014.
Afghanistan remains firmly
entrenched as the world's weakest passport with access to only 26
countries visa-free — the lowest score ever recorded in history of
the 19-year-old index.
Dr. Christian H. Kaelin, Chairman
of Henley & Partners, says: "The global average number of
destinations travelers are able to access visa-free has nearly
doubled from 58 in 2006 to 111 in 2024. However, the global
mobility gap between those at the top and bottom of the index is
now wider than it has ever been, with top-ranked Singapore able to access a record-breaking 169
more destinations visa-free than Afghanistan."
According to IATA, airlines will connect nearly 5 billion people
over 22,000 routes on 39 million flights in 2024 but its Director
General, Willie Walsh, says the
margins are incredibly tight: "The aviation industry expects
revenues of almost USD 1 trillion
this year but expenses will also be at a record high of
USD 936 billion. Net profit will be
USD 30.5 billion. This translates to
a modest net margin of around 3%, making the profit per passenger
just USD 6.14 — barely enough for a
single espresso in a typical hotel café. Despite this, the real
cost of air travel has fallen 34% over the last decade."
Climbers, fallers and elections
The UAE makes it into the Top 10 for the first time, having
added an impressive 152 destinations since the index's inception in
2006 to achieve its current visa-free score of 185, making it the
biggest climber by rising a remarkable 53 places from
62nd to 9th position. The biggest faller over
the last decade is Venezuela,
which has plunged 17 places from 25th to
42nd. The country is due to hold decisive presidential
elections on 28 July that could change the fate of more than seven
million Venezuelans who have fled their country over the last ten
years.
Commenting in the July 2024
edition of the Henley Global Mobility Report, published today
alongside the latest passport ranking, former career diplomat with
the U.S. State Department and a senior non-resident associate at
the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Annie Pforzheimer, says business groups in
immigration- and tourism-dependent industries in America are
extremely concerned about the upcoming US election: "Their major
worries relate to measures likely to be imposed under a second
Trump administration, including ending the Temporary Protected
Status regime, rolling back the Deferred Action for Childhood
Arrivals status, and consequent mass deportations for up to 1
million people now eligible for those programs."
Africa tops the list of EU
visa rejections
In exclusive new research published in today's report, Prof.
Mehari Taddele Maru, Adjunct
Professor at the School of Transnational Governance at the
European University Institute, and
Johns Hopkins University in
Italy, compares Schengen visa
rejection rates for African applicants to those from other regions.
The results show that around 3 in 10 or 30% of African Schengen
visa applicants were rejected, compared to 1 in 10 applicants
worldwide, despite the continent having the lowest number of visa
applications per capita. He also found evidence that the poorer the
African country of origin, the higher the rejection rate for its
nationals:
"Despite justifications based on apparent security or economic
concerns, the European visa system clearly demonstrates a
pre-determined bias against African applicants who face a triple
whammy: lower passport power, higher visa rejection rates, and
consequently, limited economic mobility. In short, the poorest
individuals face the greatest difficulties when seeking to travel
or move to more prosperous countries."
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SOURCE Henley & Partners