The Thai passport went slightly down in the global ranking this year, as Singapore still underlined its most powerful travel document in the ratings.
Passports from Thailand were rated 63rd in the recently released Henley Passport Index for 2006, dropping two notches from last year.
Holders of the Thai passport can travel to 77 destinations with no visa requirement, less than half of their Singapore peers, who can freely enter 192 destinations.
The Thai document was placed fifth among passport holders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations members. Malaysia was ranked second, Brunei ranked third and East Timor ranked fourth in the Asean region.
Indonesian passports stayed at 68th, followed by the Philippines 72nd, Vietnam 87th, Cambodia 88th, Laos 89th and Myanmar 91st.
The Asean passports in ranking orders:
- Singapore 192 visa-free destinations
- Malaysia 183
- Brunei 163
- East Timor 93
- Thailand 77
- Indonesia 70
- Philippines 65
- Vietnam 48
- Cambodia 47
- Laos 47
- Myanmar 43
The annual Henley Passport Index calculates and ranks all 199 passports based on global access scores to 227 travel destinations.
The Singapore passport has topped the world since 2004, the year the island state shared the crown with Japan. The Japanese passport dropped to the second best in the last two years.
The US passport was ranked 10th and its war rival Iran at 96th, while Afghanistan was at the bottom at 104th.