Record-Breaking Global Mobility Grounded by COVID-19 Pandemic
PR83575
LONDON, Apr. 7, 2020 /PRNewswire=KYODO JBN/--
With global travel almost at a standstill, the latest results of the Henley
Passport Index[https://www.henleypassportindex.com/] offer disturbing insight
into the indiscriminate havoc caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Since its
inception in 2006, the index has provided the authoritative annual ranking of
global passport strength. Travel freedom has increased dramatically over the
period — in 2006, a citizen could travel to 58 destinations on average without
a visa from the host nation; 14 years later, this number has almost doubled to
107. The first ranking of the new decade published in January this year
conclusively confirmed that overall, people were the most globally mobile than
we had ever been in the history of humankind, with the top-ranking passport
(Japan) offering its holders access to a record-breaking 191 destinations
without requiring a visa in advance. Just three months later, the picture looks
very different.
Japan's passport continues to hold the top spot but the reality is that current
stringent travel restrictions mean that non-essential travel for Japanese
nationals is heavily curtailed. This is true for almost every country of
course, as more travel bans are implemented daily, and ever-more stringent
coronavirus lockdown regulations are imposed by governments worldwide. With 3.5
billion people, nearly half the global population, presently living in
voluntary or mandatory confinement, the latest results from the index — which
is based on exclusive data from the International Air Transport Association
(IATA)[https://www.iata.org/pages/default.aspx] — raise challenging questions
about what travel freedom and global mobility really mean, both currently and
in a deeply uncertain post-pandemic future.
Dr. Christian H. Kaelin[https://chriskalin.com/], Chairman of Henley &
Partners[https://www.henleyglobal.com/] and the inventor of the passport index
concept, points out that in an unprecedented global health emergency such as
this, relative passport strength becomes temporarily meaningless. "A Swiss
citizen can, in theory, travel to 185 destinations around the world without
needing a visa in advance, but the last few weeks have made it apparent that
travel freedom is contingent on factors that can be utterly beyond our control.
This is something that citizens of countries with weak passports in the lower
ranks of the index are all too familiar with."
Bestselling author and the Founder and Managing Partner of FutureMap, Dr. Parag
Khanna, says the combined effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on public health, the
global economy, and social behavior could lead to much deeper shifts in our
human geography. "This may seem ironic now but as the curtain lifts, people
will seek to move from poorly governed and ill-prepared 'red zones' to 'green
zones' or places with better medical care. Alternatively, people may relocate
to places where involuntary quarantine, whenever it strikes next, is less
torturous. In the US, both domestic and international migration were surging
before the pandemic, with Gen-Xers and millennials shifting to cheaper,
second-tier cities in the Sun Belt or abroad to Latin America and Asia in
search of an affordable life. Once quarantines lift and airline prices stand at
rock bottom, expect more people across the globe to gather their belongings and
buy one-way tickets to countries affordable enough to start fresh."
This is supported by emerging research and analysis commissioned by Henley &
Partners, which suggests that the unprecedented and overwhelming focus on
health security and pandemic preparedness may change the face of global
mobility forever. Political science researchers Ugur Altundal and Omer Zarpli
of Syracuse University and the University of Pittsburgh, respectively, warn
that "the quality and level of health security of a country could be a
significant consideration for visa waivers in future".
Commenting on the ever-expanding growth of the investment migration industry,
Dr. Juerg
Steffen[https://www.henleyglobal.com/key-people-details/dr-juerg-steffen/], CEO
of Henley & Partners[https://www.henleyglobal.com/], says: "We believe that in
the post-COVID-19 environment, investment migration will take on a dramatically
enhanced importance for both individual investors and sovereign states.
Acquiring alternative residence or citizenship will act as a hedge against the
significant macro-economic volatility that is predicted, creating even more
sovereign and societal value across the world."
Media Contact:
Paddy Blewer
Group PR Director
paddy.blewer@henleyglobal.com
SOURCE: Henley & Partners
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