That Bangladeshis are not welcome as travellers in most countries of the world is amply evident from the ratings done by the Henley & Partners. The latest rating says the country has even slipped one step on visa-free travel. Sadly, its passport is now in the 96th position in the world in terms of visa-free access for its citizens. The figure is down from the 95th it secured last year. The country has also suffered the largest individual decline of any nations, dropping 23 ranks in the index since 2008.
The Henley & Partners estimates the Power Index of a passport of a country through the number of countries the particular passport-holder can visit without a visa. Even India's visa-free access has risen from 25 to 49 while for Sri Lanka, it increased from 22 to 41. People of a tiny landlocked country like Bhutan do have much more freedom of flying to foreign countries than those of Bangladesh during the same period (2006 to 2018). It has been found that while certain countries are tightening their borders, most are in fact becoming more open as they seek to tap immense economic value that tourism, international commerce and migration can bring in.
It is, however, yet to be made officially known as to whether the foreign ministry has ever made any attempt to arrange access of Bangladeshis with passports to most, if not all, of the 199 countries that featured in the index. Only 10 countries got the ranking as having less visa-free access around the world than Bangladesh's while at least 185 have more visa-free access than it does. Even isolated countries like North Korea or war-ravaged South Sudan enjoy more visa-free access in the world than Bangladesh does. According to the findings, the number of countries where Bangladeshi passport-holders can enjoy visa-free access remained unchanged at 38 since last year.
It's a fact that more developing countries like India and Malaysia are now relaxing visa regimes to draw more tourists or investors from Bangladesh. There has been a sizeable drainage of precious foreign currencies to these countries on account of tourism, medical treatment, higher studies and investment in projects like second homes. India has been the biggest beneficiary of visa regime relaxed for Bangladeshis. Over 2.15 million, making over 60 per cent growth over the previous year 2016, visited India during January-December period of the last calendar year. The rise of Bangladeshis in India's travel market has been quite rapid. From mere 480,000 visitors in 2012, the number has now grown almost three-folds.
It's now time for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to make intense diplomatic efforts towards increasing the number of countries Bangladeshis can visit with their passports. The country itself allows 130 plus countries the benefit of no-visa or on-arrival visa, while 37 plus countries allow us the same privileges. Bangladesh is ranked among the top 70 countries in terms of GDP but the country's passport index does not match with the status. It's time we bargained for visa-free travel abroad.
