A supplier side view of digital nomadism: The case of destination Gran Canaria

Abstract

Digital nomadism is a rapidly growing lifestyle for living and working. Despite its potential transformative effect on destinations, little attention has been paid to destination communities in which digital nomads reside. This paper aims to examine the interface between the destination communities and digital nomadism: how the stakeholders in a destination community perceive and accommodate digital nomads. The case study comes from a popular European destination, the island of Gran Canaria, Spain. The study proposes an original supply side framework to theoretically inform the phenomenon of digital nomadism. Stakeholder theory is also applied to examine the interface between the local communities and the phenomenon. Applying the proposed conceptual framework, the results reveal a novel perspective on digital nomads, which is “new locals”. The results show that the accommodative strategies of local stakeholders correlate strongly with the stakeholder’s specializations, and include strategies such as: provider, communicator, integrator, and embracer.