BARBADOS HAS claimed the top spot as having one of the most powerful passports throughout the Caribbean for the seventh year running.

The idyllic island nation has already increased by one spot on the world’s ranking of most powerful passports, which allows Barbadians to enter 161 countries without a visa.

The Henley Passport Index Report puts Barbados at 23rd in the sought-after global ranking, out of 199 different passports and 227 destinations.

The news comes months after it was announced that Barbados would take its first step into the metaverse with the world’s first of a digital embassy that would allow for  “e-visas” to be issued for keen travellers to the Caribbean nation.

In an extraordinary year when millions remained in lockdown and at the mercy of forever changing travel restrictions, officials hope that Barbados’ ranking in passport power will fuel air travel again to and from the tropical island.

The Henley Passport the report stated: “For each travel destination, if no visa is required for passport holders from a country or territory, then a score with value equal to one is created for that passport.

“A score with a value equal to one is also applied if passport holders can obtain a visa on arrival, a visitor’s permit, or an electronic travel authority (ETA) when entering the destination.

“These visa-types require no pre-departure government approval, because of the specific visa-waiver programs in place.”

Once before a passport’s stronghold was rooted in the economic richness of its country, where lack of social freedom or poor economic development resulted in a low global ranking.

However, global mobility now rests on a country’s failure in risk management, health readiness, and monitoring and detection that could cause it to decrease in power and desirability.

Other CARICOM countries that can boast of their passport’s position is St Kitts and Nevis who are ranked 25th with a score of 157 and the Bahamas is 26th with a score of 155.

St Vincent and the Grenadines follow closely at 29th with a score of 151. Twin islands Antigua and Barbuda and Trinidad and Tobago reach a tie in 30th place with a score of 150 with and St Lucia finished last place in 31st with a visa-free score of 146.