Namaste Beaches!

The digital nomads are coming!

If you’ve been watching what’s happening in the dreams and aspirations of many of the younger generation, seeing what they hashtag on social media, where they are filming their videos and reels, you’ll see a move toward remote working which increases travel possibilities.

It’s changed from the backpacking days of the pre-digital era, to become a valuable way to travel and make money, without taking away jobs from the local communities. In fact, it expands economies as money is put into living in local communities!

Young adults are moving away from doing things the way their parents did.

This is especially evident within the gig economy. Many are not tying themselves to location-based work environments and are shifting out of the nine-to-five office career.

The digital nomad route of working online and living affordably in places like Bali and Portugal, has spawned a specific tourism for extended co-living, self-catering stays. These destinations have begun shifting gears to provide accommodation and wellness tourism for this trending market. 

The digital wave is already arriving on the South Coast of KZN, with people wanting ‘South Africa’s Bali’ of beautiful vistas and cost-effective living.

With the amount of Blue Flag beaches, healthy coastal lifestyle, wellness tourism (initiatives like the Wellness Way) and the introduction of fibre internet, the South Coast is starting to ride the possibilities of this wave.

After Covid, many South Africans realised they could work online and began buying more remote coastal property. Once you’ve got solar panels, inverters and water tanks, you’re able to live more eco-consciously within your own country. This first wave began boosting the coastal economy far more than just finding a local job!

This wave has already started and the two generational opposites of the South Coast would do well to create opportunities together, digital nomads and remote workers are looking for co-living and working spaces that have access to great WIFI, beaches, Yoga, mindful living, social spaces and conscious community. 

Wellness tourism is also starting to offer longer retreats, balancing and revitalising those that can take an extended break whilst still working online part time. For many, this prevents total burnout, without having to take extended leave. This can be integrated by offering off-season specials to these remote workers, creating a year-round tourism opportunity, as well as becoming a preferred destination for digital nomads. 

It’s happening elsewhere in the world; many holiday accommodation places are converting to co-living spaces where folks live in social community and work online, making memories, building friendships and bringing income into more remote and beautiful destinations worldwide. 

The South Coast has great prices and has started becoming more sustainable, which is often very attractive to a younger digital nomad community.

The water and electricity issues have ironically given the South Coast a reason to become more eco-conscious and sustainable within their businesses, which is often a hot selling point for younger digital nomads.

This has given us on this beautiful wild coast a headstart, as many digital nomads are not looking for city life, they are looking for the lifestyle of coastal living and affordability to create experiences. 

They work to create their life, not live to work.

For seasonal tourism to make the shift to offering remote co-living workspaces, invites more year round trade. It’s a golden opportunity for those places willing to be early adopters, creating opportunities for these travellers at a great price. And finally to bring together an older generation running holiday-style accommodation with a younger generation, creating symbiotic communities and an expansion in what digital and wellness tourism can do for the South Coast!

Digital nomad and coach Anne-Marie Clulow, is the founder of Intimacy Coaching International and Bliss and Relaxation’s ‘Sense You Wellness’ programme as well as the SENSORIUM Creator. You can experience this immersive sound journey at Kwazulu-Spirit Festival 2024. Anne-Marie is an Odyssey Magazine Thought Leader with her Blissexology column in every edition

Craig McCaw, American businessman and entrepreneur, a pioneer in the cellular phone industry, predicted in 1993 that the union of telecommunication and computing would create a new nomadic industry. By enabling people to conduct business from any location, wireless communication and digital assistants would facilitate a return to a nomadic lifestyle where people moved as they wished and took their environment and possessions with them

The 1997 book Digital Nomad by Tsugio Makimoto and David Manners used the term to describe how technology allows for a return of societies to a nomadic lifestyle  Makimoto and Manners identified an emerging ‘digital nomad’ lifestyle freed by technology from the constraints of geography and distance.

In March 2022, South Africa announced that it would update its visa laws to be allow digital nomads to stay in the country for more than 90 days