Tanya Mohn's New York Times article Coworking on Vacation: A Desk in Paradise hit a cord with readers. It lit up social media with thousands of tweets and Facebook posts.
The article focuses on coworking facilities in exotic or tourist oriented locations that also provide accommodations.
These spaces are targeted at people who want to take "workations".
Key quote:
These new centers are an offshoot of co-working spaces, which offer the benefits of an office environment on a temporary basis. But they also provide a place to sleep, have fun and mingle with colleagues — not in humdrum office parks, but in exotic locations around the world, in the European countryside close to urban centers or in warm-weather destinations like Bali.
This is part of the broader digital nomad trend, a topic that travel writer Mohn has covered extensively. Her article The New Digital Nomads - Run Your Business From Anywhere in the World defines digital nomads as:
"... professionals with a location-independent lifestyle that allows them to work anywhere in the world there is a good Internet connection — from beach towns and cafés to co-working spaces in major hubs from Berlin to Bangkok."
Digital nomads who travel to exotic locations like Bali get most of the press.
But more and more people are taking advantage of telework tools to work remotely while they take long weekends away from home, live temporarily near relatives or live full or part-time where they want to live instead of where their job is.
Data on the number of digital nomads is non-existent. But a couple of interesting statistics from the 2014 MBO Partners State of Independence study show how widespread the digital nomad movement could become:
- 22% of all independent workers surveyed reported less than 10% of their revenue came from their local area.
- 14% reported that none of their revenue came from their local area.
22% projects to almost 4 million independent workers who are effectively teleworkers and potential digital nomads.
Based on the reaction to this article, we expect many will become digital nomads and/or take workations in the future.
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