The potential of digital nomadism for tourism development in Alentejo

The concept of digital nomad became popular with the work of Makimoto and Manners (1997), who started the (scientific) discussion about new lifestyles in which professionals move freely, without having geographically fixed spaces and workplaces. The emergence of conceptualising digital nomads is associated with a set of societal changes arising from the phenomenon of globalisation, and the digital economy (Jacobs & Gussekloo, 2016), the consequent generalisation of new technologies, the public and private scope of the social experience of individuals and the expansion of connectivity resulting from the evolution of the digital era itself (Castro & Gosling, 2022). These changes have brought a paradigm shift compared to traditional work practices, allowing workers to work remotely and migrate from home-office to work-office (Castro & Gosling, 2022). Digital nomads have thus become quite important for some destinations (and for their development) and are presented as a new type of visitor-resident. The purpose of this study is to contribute to a better understanding of digital nomadism, exploring Alentejo, as a rural destination with the potential to accommodate this type of visitors. The preliminary findings from the visual data analysis interconnect place design to tourism experiences and suggest that future research near stakeholders is warranted to further explore the opportunities and challenges for digital nomadism in rural regions (such as Alentejo), outside the mainstream tourism places to actively attract this growing segment of travellers.