Key Findings from the 2023 Digital Nomad Report by Flatio
How the Recent Digital Nomad Data is Shaping Global Travel Trends
We’re witnessing a significant shift in the way we work and live. Lifestyles that combine work and travel, whether it is digital nomadism or workations, are redefining the boundaries of travel.
Delta CEO - “The less that people are in the office, the more they travel, the more mobile they are.”
While these shifts are happening in front of our eyes, we need both services (business) and data (research) to better understand and adapt to the changing dynamics.
The 2023 Digital Nomad Report by Flatio, an online marketplace specializing in mid-term accommodations, offers us a deep dive into this phenomenon with their first conducted research.
The report was compiled by distributing a 32-question survey to a database of over 25,000 digital nomads (DNs). A total of 1,200 individuals responded, providing insights on a variety of subjects. These subjects included annual earnings, tax situations, employment status, DN visas, accommodation preferences, and social causes.
In this blog, I will do a recap of their findings and as always, discuss what kind of impacts this brings to local communities and the tourism industry. Let’s go.
Key Findings
The Flatio report provides an overview of the current state of digital nomadism. Here are some of the main findings and my thoughts.
1) Demographics
A notable number of DNs are over the age of 40, indicating that this lifestyle isn't exclusive to the younger crowd. However, the largest age group among DNs is between 30 and 39.
DNs represent a mix of nationalities, with a significant portion originating from the United States (also indicated by many other reports).
Regarding employment, the report shows that over a third of DNs hold full-time jobs (31.5%), while the majority are freelancers (35%). Entrepreneurs and business owners make up 13.6% of the DN community, with 6.8% being self-employed and 6.7% having multiple sources of income. The main industries for DNs are IT & technology (19.3%), media, advertising, PR & marketing (19.3%), and entrepreneurship & business (17.2%).
Interestingly, not all DNs refer to themselves as such. The report reveals that about a quarter (25.9%) of those surveyed do not use the term "digital nomad" to describe their lifestyle. Besides that, 18.4% of them don’t even like the term.
As this lifestyle continues to gain popularity, it will be interesting to observe how these demographics shift and with that, their impacts on the visiting communities.
2) Where do They Prefer to Stay?
Among the many destinations favored by digital nomads, Portugal stands out as the top choice with 27.1% liking this place the most. Portugal is liked for its nice weather, low cost of living, friendly people, and a big DN community. Plus, Portugal offers a DN visa, which makes it even more attractive.
After Portugal, Thailand is the second most liked place, chosen by 12.2% of DNs. It has been a favorite among DNs for a long time. The country also has good internet services and many coworking spaces, especially in cities like Bangkok and Chiang Mai.
Spain is the third most liked place, with 8.6% of DNs picking it as their favorite place. Like Portugal, Spain as well offers a DN visa.
Argentina and Mexico are also preferred by many DNs, chosen by 8.2% and 8.1% of DNs. These countries have exciting cultures, beautiful landscapes, and low living costs, which make them good options for DNs.
The report also shows that the cost of living is the most important thing that affects DNs' choice of place, followed by the amount of sunshine. Affordable living costs allow them to sustain their lifestyle, while sunny destinations offer the allure of a pleasant climate and outdoor activities.
This is exactly why in Europe, Southern European countries are the most popular among the nomad population. Although in terms of sunshine, the recent extreme heat waves (getting worse every year) and draughts might shift this trend and encourage more nomads to visit cooler destinations or those with a more stable climate.
Weather will continue to be one of the determining factors influencing nomads where to set up base and because of recent extreme weather conditions in certain countries, travel itineraries of this segment might change.
3) Challenges - How to Book?
The DN lifestyle is not without its challenges. One of the primary frustrations expressed by nomads is the difficulty in finding suitable accommodation. The transient nature of their stay often means they face problems in finding long-term leases or comfortable living spaces. In terms of how they book their stays, the answers are the following:
Airbnb is used by 20.8% of the digital nomads surveyed.
Other platforms and methods include Booking.com (17.4%), FB Groups (15.3%), local estate agents (9.6%), Flatio (9.3%), and Spotahome (9.5%).
Airbnb ranks as the top platform in the survey which is not surprising.
The % of DNs using Flatio is high in these findings because they sent the survey to their personal database. In my opinion, the % for Flatio would be lower in the general DN population and higher for Airbnb.
Many nomads bring up the accommodation discussion on LinkedIn and Reddit threads. It seems there hasn’t yet appeared a proper unbundling of Airbnb designed for remote workers. Platforms like Flatio and NomadStays exist, among others, but I don’t see the traction yet going through the roof or that we can already say this is the “Airbnb for Remote Work”.
Either the market is too small or the platforms are not yet solving the problem well enough. There’s still space for disruption in this space. And I don’t mean just on the demand side, but also on the supply side.
Businesses in the hospitality sector, whether hotels or small apartments, still have a lot to learn and try to design their spaces for this growing segment.
4) Giving Back
The questions from the survey also focused on the impacts of DNs on local communities.
Awareness and Responsibility: 4 in 5 DNs (81.9%) consider the impact they have on local people. This shows a high level of awareness and responsibility towards the communities they visit. This also correlates with the findings from my research where I found that DNs have a strong desire to have a positive effect on the communities they stay in.
Social Causes: Climate change is the social cause that DNs care about the most, with 42.5% of them expressing concern about this issue. This suggests that a strong environmental consciousness could influence their behaviour and the impact they have on the visiting communities.
Economic Impact: In terms of income, almost a quarter (24.9%) of digital nomads earn less than 40,000 euros a year, and almost one in ten (10%) earns less than 20,000 euros a year. This range of income levels could have various effects on local economies, depending on the cost of living in the communities they visit.
A snapshot of the landscape
These findings provide a snapshot of the digital nomad landscape in 2023, highlighting the trends, preferences, and challenges faced by this growing community.
It's clear again that the location-independent lifestyle is transforming the concept of how we travel and interact with local communities.
The findings also bring us one step closer to better understanding the segment and how it might shape the future of travel.
thanks finding these interesting reading im looking at how Egypt might benefit from this DN culture ,so nice to read these articles ,very informative!
Interesting article. Would be curious about what qualifies as a "suitable accommodation" for most digital nomads out there, as this seems to be one of the main challenges?