Key Findings

Despite Singapore having the most visa-free destinations in traditional rankings like the Henley Passport Index, South Korea takes the top spot in the Total Experience Index.

The difference? Access to major tourism markets that Singapore misses. While both passports open doors to most of the world, South Korea has visa-free access to countries that receive tens of millions of visitors annually—markets where Singapore passport holders need visas.

This single finding encapsulates the core insight of our methodology: the destinations you can access matter more than how many you can access.

Two destinations separate the truly powerful passports from the rest: India and China. Both are massive tourism markets that most passports cannot access visa-free.

China's recent visa-free expansion to select countries has reshuffled the rankings. Meanwhile, India remains restrictive—only a handful of Asian passports enjoy visa-free access. Having both gives a structural advantage.

This creates a significant gap at the top of our ranking. Passports with India and China access have an edge that's difficult to overcome with additional smaller destinations.

Access to the Schengen zone—26 European countries with open borders—provides a massive baseline score. The combined tourism volume of France, Spain, Italy, Germany, and their neighbors represents a significant chunk of global travel.

Passports without European access start at a fundamental disadvantage, regardless of how many other countries they can visit. This explains why some passports with many visa-free destinations still rank relatively low: their access is concentrated in regions with lower tourism volumes.

The lesson: a few high-value destinations outweigh many low-value ones.

After the Schengen zone, the United States is the single most valuable destination in our ranking. It receives massive international tourism, and missing US access is extremely costly.

Countries like Brazil and Mexico, despite having strong regional access and visa-free travel to most of South America and parts of Europe, lose significant ground because their citizens need visas for the US.

Recent policy changes—like Brazil's 2025 decision to require visas from American, Canadian, and Australian visitors—highlight how bilateral relationships directly impact passport scores.

Some passports punch well above their weight. Taiwan, Albania, and Chile access major tourism hubs with fewer total visa-free destinations than their peers, achieving high scores efficiently.

These "efficient" passports have focused diplomatic relationships—they may not grant access to every small island nation, but they open doors to the destinations that matter most for tourism volume.

This efficiency metric (score divided by destination count) reveals which countries have the most strategically valuable visa agreements, rather than simply the most agreements.

Some passports with many visa-free destinations score poorly because they access mostly low-tourism countries. Raw destination count can be deeply misleading about real travel utility.

A passport might grant visa-free access to 80 countries—but if those countries collectively receive only a fraction of global tourism, the practical value is limited. Meanwhile, another passport with access to just 60 countries might score higher because those 60 include major tourism powerhouses.

This is why traditional rankings, which treat Palau and France as equivalent, can paint a misleading picture of passport power.