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<header><h1>Are digital nomads ruining local communities?</h1><p><a rel="author" href="https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/individuals/dr-olga-hannonen">Dr Olga Hannonen</a> and <a rel="author" href="https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/individuals/shaun-busuttil">Shaun Busuttil</a></p></header><p>Combining travel with remote work was once a relatively niche lifestyle. But these days, digital nomadism has matured into the mainstream.<br /></p><p>This surge in numbers – a reported <a href="https://ift.tt/PJAYXMh" target="_blank">131 per cent growth</a> post-pandemic – is matched by a corresponding growth in public awareness and media attention. And interestingly, much of it is critical. </p><figure class="full-width"><img alt="" itemprop="image" sizes="(min-width: 1300px) 892px, (min-width: 1099px) 860px, (min-width: 769px) 700px, 100vw" src="https://ift.tt/qxErowF" srcset="https://ift.tt/pYq5gz2 446w, https://ift.tt/3iOmWhZ 669w, https://ift.tt/qxErowF 892w, https://ift.tt/Boz3Zh6 1784w" /><figcaption>When communities host large numbers of digital nomads, local languages may be dropped in favour of English. Picture: Getty Images</figcaption></figure><p>Many of these criticisms focus on the role nomads (and remote workers) play in processes like <a href="https://ift.tt/xMXLcv2" target="_blank">gentrification</a> and other forms of community disruption, including the <a href="https://ift.tt/iIOQDG5" target="_blank">shift from local languages to English</a>. </p><p>Some even claim digital nomadism is a form of <a href="https://ift.tt/KN9jsXL" target="_blank">neo-colonialism</a> or <a href="https://ift.tt/b15Ud6G" target="_blank">neo-imperialism</a>. </p><p>But any serious analysis of this global lifestyle trend needs to acknowledge the equally active and significant roles played by other factors.</p><figure class="related inset-right" role="complementary"><a class="single" data-bound="true" href="https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/articles/how-remote-work-is-invading-our-spaces"><img alt="" itemprop="image" src="https://ift.tt/Nk6Dbx1" /><h3>How remote work is invading our spaces</h3><div class="readmore">Read more</div></a></figure><p>For example, growing numbers of countries promote <a href="https://ift.tt/9nHSMmk" target="_blank">tax incentives</a> and offer <a href="https://ift.tt/stzQ9Hc" target="_blank">digital nomad visas</a> to attract these itinerant individuals.<br /></p><p>Government policies like this often put the interests of the global middle class ahead of their own citizens by creating opportunities for local landlords to charge <a href="https://ift.tt/vMR1Xjk" target="_blank">higher rents</a> than they otherwise could.</p><p>This contributes to existing problems that tourism and other forms of travel create in places like <a href="https://ift.tt/1RZd7OI" target="_blank">Barcelona</a> and <a href="https://ift.tt/Av6ftia" target="_blank">Lisbon</a>, including low rental stock for locals and over-touristed public spaces.</p><h2>A more nuanced analysis</h2><p>We must also recognise that different countries and communities around the world have their own histories, economies and cultures, which have consequences for how well – if at all – nomads are integrated into the social fabric. </p><figure class="full-width"><img alt="" itemprop="image" sizes="(min-width: 1300px) 892px, (min-width: 1099px) 860px, (min-width: 769px) 700px, 100vw" src="https://ift.tt/2nGiBzy" srcset="https://ift.tt/6GtADpi 446w, https://ift.tt/YbaAWm2 669w, https://ift.tt/2nGiBzy 892w, https://ift.tt/RBC5Jep 1784w" /><figcaption>In popular destination cities like Lisbon, the number of apartments leased short-term to tourists and other travellers can make it difficult for locals to secure a home. Picture: Getty Images</figcaption></figure><p>This isn’t to trivialise the very real impact nomads have on <a href="https://ift.tt/6rPMSKX" target="_blank">gentrifying places and overwhelming local housing markets</a>. Nor does it absolve them of their responsibility for making life more difficult for the locals who graciously host and support their lifestyle. </p><p>But it acknowledges the complexity and variability of this transnational phenomenon, one which requires a more nuanced consideration. </p><p>For example, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0261517723000262">recent research in Gran Canaria, Spain</a>, by Olga Hannonen (one of this article’s authors) and colleagues found diverse local stakeholders expressed an overall welcoming attitude to the digital nomad community, viewing them as a much-needed injection of human capital and economic activity. <br /></p><figure class="related inset-right" role="complementary"><a class="single" data-bound="true" href="https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/articles/a-nomadic-sense-of-home"><img alt="" itemprop="image" src="https://ift.tt/b90eqO3" /><h3>A nomadic sense of home</h3><div class="readmore">Read more</div></a></figure><p>These positive responses come from both businesses that directly profit from digital nomads, and residents who gain no direct economic benefit but interact with them in their daily lives.</p><p>Often, these resident-nomad encounters take place in shared public spaces like local cafes or restaurants, which frequently overlap as <a href="https://ift.tt/Gd7LuNE" target="_blank">workspaces for nomads</a> alongside their broader social function as spaces of consumption and community. </p><h2>Segregation between nomads and locals</h2><p>But this potential to consume and connect with locals in <a href="https://ift.tt/cKpGAUg" target="_blank">‘third places’</a> isn’t universal, particularly in the Global South.</p><p>Recent fieldwork by Shaun Busuttil (also an author of this article) in Bali, Indonesia, found local-nomad interactions in cafes and restaurants were primarily transactional, taking place over the counter between local staff and foreign customers. </p><figure class="full-width"><img alt="" itemprop="image" sizes="(min-width: 1300px) 892px, (min-width: 1099px) 860px, (min-width: 769px) 700px, 100vw" src="https://ift.tt/R8JPtLl" srcset="https://ift.tt/7DhUAPo 446w, https://ift.tt/4uADKdL 669w, https://ift.tt/R8JPtLl 892w, https://ift.tt/nByIGOz 1784w" /><figcaption>In the Global South, cafes and restaurants popular with foreigners can be unaffordable for locals. Picture: Getty Images</figcaption></figure><p>In what could be viewed as a form of socio-spatial segregation, nomads often work, eat and drink in different places to locals, segregated not by explicit discriminatory policies but by the literal cost of consumption and significant income disparities.</p><p>For example, in places like Bali, AU$5 for a coffee in a trendy cafe popular with nomads and remote workers is too high for locals earning a <a href="https://ift.tt/XbqOlmt" target="_blank">minimum daily wage of around $10</a>. </p><p>On a Global North salary, however, it’s par for the course.</p><figure class="related inset-right" role="complementary"><a class="single" data-bound="true" href="https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/articles/the-rise-of-the-digital-nomad"><img alt="" itemprop="image" src="https://ift.tt/NTCdzMI" /><h3>The rise of the digital nomad</h3><div class="readmore">Read more</div></a></figure><p>In places where developed tourism infrastructures serve primarily foreign and relatively wealthy customers, the only locals typically found inside are the service staff who support the labouring efforts of these middle-class cosmopolitans.</p><h2>Culture clashes between nomads and locals</h2><p>Moreover, recent media reports of <a href="https://ift.tt/walsrDo" target="_blank">tourists behaving badly in Bali</a> indicate a more ambivalent attitude amongst the Balinese towards foreigners – and, by implication, digital nomads – on cultural grounds, despite repeated efforts by the <a href="https://ift.tt/NCtjS7z" target="_blank">Indonesian government</a> to appeal to this mobile population.</p><p>While <a href="https://ift.tt/gNyBMJD" target="_blank">contributing substantially</a> to the regional economy through investment and spending, their disruptive influence on the island’s <a href="https://ift.tt/FVKMmy0" target="_blank">cultural identity</a> has stirred some community pushback. </p><p>This stands in contrast to nomadic communities in Europe, where a shared Western background between nomads and locals suggest a more seamless (potential) integration.</p><h2>Neoliberal adaptations</h2><p>The differences between how nomads are received in Gran Canaria and Bali reveal the significance of culture and (global) class in local community sentiments towards digital nomads.</p><figure class="full-width"><img alt="" itemprop="image" sizes="(min-width: 1300px) 892px, (min-width: 1099px) 860px, (min-width: 769px) 700px, 100vw" src="https://ift.tt/sXO7cf0" srcset="https://ift.tt/JZd7HoE 446w, https://ift.tt/aBOmtgQ 669w, https://ift.tt/sXO7cf0 892w, https://ift.tt/TV7otUw 1784w" /><figcaption>Local responses to digital nomads vary, depending on the host community’s economic and social circumstances. Picture: Getty Images</figcaption></figure><p>This has implications for local-nomad relations, but also points to much broader systemic issues and the perpetuation of geopolitical power privileges that nomads simply exploit.<br /></p><p>At the same time, it’s important to understand that digital nomads are often escaping gentrified cities and places themselves, <a href="https://ift.tt/cGTnspX" target="_blank">taking advantage of structural inequalities</a> and squeezing the benefits of <a href="https://ift.tt/nCVj0fO" target="_blank">geoarbitrage</a> (earning in a strong economy while living somewhere low-cost) to maximise their quality of life. </p><p>But by pursuing this end, they ultimately pass the buck of gentrification into new locales, which just makes it harder for local people to achieve that same coveted end. </p><p>These divergent responses to digital nomadism – from warmth to weariness – illustrate the importance of context in how local communities accommodate digital nomads. </p><p>Banner: Getty Images</p><img alt="" height="1" style="display:none" width="1" src="//track.web.unimelb.edu.au/pursuit/pageview.png?location=https%3A%2F%2Fpursuit.unimelb.edu.au%2Farticles%2Fare-digital-nomads-ruining-local-communities&title=Are+digital+nomads+ruining+local+communities%3F&path=%2Farticles%2Fare-digital-nomads-ruining-local-communities&campaign_name=Pursuit+republishing&campaign_medium=republish&campaign_content=Are+digital+nomads+ruining+local+communities%3F" />

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Are digital nomads ruining local communities? | Pursuit by The University of Melbourne - Pursuit
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