Freedom of Indian passport holder back to pre-pandemic levels but way behind top-ranking Japan: Henley report

Japan's passport remains the most powerful for the fifth year in a row, according to the latest rankings released by Henley Passport Index.

It has visa-free access to 193 countries. Indian passport's ranked at 87 with access to 60 countries. The passport now has access to almost the same number of destinations as it had during the pre-pandemic era.

Japan is followed by Singapore and South Korea, with access to 192 countries each. The rest of the top 10 include European countries such as Germany, Spain, Finland, Luxembourg, and Italy.

UK's passport slipped one spot to rank six while the US ranked seventh.

Afghanistan stood last on the list.

Recovering to pre-pandemic level

Lifting of international travel ban has helped passports regain strength. Indian passport has recovered almost to pre-pandemic levels with access to 60 countries in 2022. At the height of the pandemic, in 2020, it had access to only 23 countries.

People with a Japanese passport, which now enjoys access to 193 countries, could only travel to 76 countries in 2020.

Russia and Ukraine, which have been at war since February, ranked 50 and 35 respectively.

Traffic returning to pre-pandemic level

The report also stated that the demand for international travel had recovered almost 60 per cent in Europe and North America. In the Asia-Pacific region, the demand has recovered only 17 per cent.

Marie Owens Thomsen, chief economist at International Air Transport Association (IATA), was quoted by Tekedia as saying that the passenger numbers should reach 83% of pre-pandemic levels in 2022.

"By next year, many markets should see traffic reach or exceed pre-pandemic levels, while we expect this to be the case for the industry as a whole in 2024," she said.

Henley Global used data from IATA to arrive at the rankings in the Henley Passport Index.