Destination Buzzers: Netnographying Digital Nomads

Ioulia Poulaki (), Eirini Vlassi, Eleni Mavragani, Eleftheria Chatzimichali and Andreas Papatheodorou
Additional contact information
Ioulia Poulaki: Department of Business Administration, University of the Aegean, 82132 Chios, Greece
Eirini Vlassi: Department of Tourism Economics and Management, University of the Aegean, 82132 Chios, Greece
Eleni Mavragani: Department of Accounting and Finance, University of Macedonia, 54636 Thessaloniki, Greece
Eleftheria Chatzimichali: Tourism Business Administration Postgraduate Program, Neapolis University Pafos, 8042 Pafos, Cyprus
Andreas Papatheodorou: Department of Tourism Economics and Management, University of the Aegean, 82132 Chios, Greece

Tourism and Hospitality, 2025, vol. 6, issue 2, 1-29

Abstract: A new way of life and work—digital nomadism—is increasingly appealing to a growing global workforce, while many destinations are beginning to view this form of tourism not only as an economic opportunity but also as a strategic tool for mitigating seasonality and promoting sustainable destination development. This paper aims to identify the key criteria that digital nomads consider when selecting a temporary residence base, contributing to the growing body of research on digital nomadism by analysing the relative impact of various factors influencing destination choice. The originality of this study lies in its mixed-method approach, which combines secondary and primary data through a netnographic analysis of online communities and semi-structured interviews with digital nomads. Findings from the secondary data highlight the cost of living, internet quality, and lifestyle offerings of a destination as the most influential factors in nomadic decision-making. Additionally, primary data further illustrate the hierarchy of digital nomads’ needs and preferences, which are classified and prioritised based on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. These insights carry significant implications for destination managers and tourism stakeholders. Understanding and responding to the evolving expectations of digital nomads can help destinations not only attract this emerging market segment but also design policies and infrastructure that align with principles of sustainable tourism.

Keywords: digital nomads; netnographic analysis; lifestyle mobilities; tourism development; destination policymaking (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Z3 Z30 Z31 Z32 Z33 Z38 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2673-5768/6/2/81/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2673-5768/6/2/81/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jtourh:v:6:y:2025:i:2:p:81-:d:1654779

Access Statistics for this article

Tourism and Hospitality is currently edited by Mr. Philip Li

More articles in Tourism and Hospitality from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().