Kenya’s passport has been ranked the most useful and influential travel document in East Africa in so far as ease of doing business across foreign territories is concerned.
The Passport Index survey by Arton Capital—a financial advisory firm which specialises in procuring multiple citizenships for clients across the globe—ranked the Kenyan passport at position 50 out of 199 passports across the world.
It found Kenyan passport-holders enjoyed visa-free access to 68 nations in the world including Mauritius, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Jamaica, Bahamas, Ethiopia, Philippines and Singapore.
“Visa-free travel is important because it facilitates doing business in foreign markets, and for leisure travellers it reduces the costs and administrative hassles of international travel,” read the survey report.
The report further found the Kenyan passport has a leg up on the rest of East Africa and the sub-African regions ahead of Ethiopia, Tanzania and Somalia.
Tanzania’s passport was ranked the second most useful travel paper in the region with its bearers able to enter up to 61 countries without having to apply for a visa while citizens of Ethiopia, Djibouti, Somalia and Eritrea, had visa-free access to 38 countries.
“Arton Capital’s assessment bodes well for Kenyans who love to travel, and it brings with it a lot of advantages for the holder of the Kenyan passport,” said head of communications for Travelstart Kenya, Oluwakemi Ojo, on the report. Uganda’s passport ranked at position 60 with access to 57 markets, Rwanda at position 74 with access to 43 nations while Burundi was ranked at position 77 with access to 40 countries.
