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