Singapore has kept its top spot amidst Southeast Asia as the country with the highest visa-free access.
This was revealed by the 2017 Visa Restrictions Index, an annual travel freedom ranking published by the global residence and citizenship advisory firm, Henley & Partners.
The index is produced in partnership with the International Air Transport Association (IATA), which maintains the world’s largest and most authoritative database of travel information.
Climbing one spot from last year, Singapore ranks 4th globally – its highest ranking on the Index in 10 years – with visa-free access to 173 countries.
The lion city remains number one in Southeast Asia, followed closely by neighbours Malaysia and Brunei Darussalam with visa-free access to 164 and 151 countries respectively.
Malaysia ranks 2nd regionally and 13th globally, dropping one place from last year while Brunei Darussalam retains its 23 rd global ranking.
According to Dominic Volek, Managing Partner of Henley & Partners Singapore and Head Southeast Asia, although the size and make-up of the Top 10 remains the same as last year, the changing geopolitical climate could well affect the rankings over the next 12 months.
“Over the last year alone, we have seen several major changes to the global political landscape – such as Brexit and US President Donald Trump’s travel ban – that will likely change global mobility as we know now.