Moving into the 3rd quarter of 2020, South Africa retains its 56th rank on the Henley Passport Index, the original ranking of all the world’s passports according to the number of destinations their holders can access without a prior visa.
South Africa offers visa-free/visa-on-arrival access to 101 destinations.
Henley & Partners revealed that the seemingly unaffected status of South Africa’s passport power against the acute public health impact of the coronavirus and the resulting movement restrictions could take a dramatic turn if the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa’s estimates of 122 million infections in the continent become a reality.
Seychelles and Mauritius are in regional 1st and 2nd place ranking at 29 and 32 globally. Independent consultant to international news outlets, publications and think-tanks, and a Director at Signal Risk, Ryan Cummings, said in addition to the acute public health impact of the pandemic, coronavirus has caused adverse economic externalities for South Africa arising from both the decrease in global demand for commodity exports - notably raw minerals - and movement restrictions imposed to contain the outbreak.
"Of these measures, among the most economically damaging has been the imposition of border and airspace closures to passenger traffic. The impact of these movement restrictions has rendered several African countries bereft of revenue they would have ordinarily garnered from international tourism. The impact has been particularly acute for tourism-dependent countries," said Cummings.
Managing Partner and Head of South, East and Central Africa at investment migration firm Henley & Partners, Amanda Smit, said although the full impact of the coronavirus on global mobility is yet to be determined, it is encouraging to see the resilience of the South African passport up to this point.
“As restrictions are starting to ease, we are beginning to see more people paying careful attention to their own global mobility and evaluating their options for travel freedom and even residence.
"The much-considered destinations are the ones which have effectively handled the coronavirus outbreak, and especially those which have declared themselves virus-free. International airline travel is still on halt, but it is to be expected that more people will look at various destinations to settle as soon as airspace is open," said Smit.