The second edition of a four-part series of Substack Letters exploring the issues, realities and impacts of digital nomads on the global gentrification landscape.
I'm trying an experiment by living in my hometown as a "nomad" and it's remarkable how it changes the way this place I grew up feels. I'm sitting in the lobby of one of the newest modern hotels in the city center with a crowd of other visitors passing through and pretending for a moment that I don't know that there's an unhoused tent village across the highway or that most of my artist friends have moved outside the city. All the things I can't see from this perspective, without local attachments and a community of people doing favors for each other, make me feel like I'm floating as a moored ship in this port. I'm jealous of how carefree this view of my city feels but it also has its own poverty-- none of the richness of what I love about this place and the faces I imagined as I walked the streets as a resident is reflected here. None of the people I knew who passed away on these streets flavor the view from this new lobby window. So I end up feeling rather sorry for the folks who float through on this global surface layer, because they will never experience the type of place this is when you give up some free will and allow yourself to be planted by a community and connected to the root structure. And yet, this is a port city, so the floating part has always been as much of the heart of the place as the land-- and maybe it's me that was a bit out of touch with it. Just like theres a root network of folks embedded here, theres also networks connecting immigrant diasporas, fishing routes, cruise ships, regional metropolitan economies. So even though the view from this floating window is strange to me, maybe it's more real in a way. Both the rooted and floating views make up the richness of this place but I think perhaps they don't have a strong enough dialogue with each other-- so I'm imagining what a healthy port city would look like where the balance of the floating world and the rooted world would enrich everyone
I like what you say about both the rooted and floating views making up the richness. I think that's 100% true and something that each POV can forget about the other.
I know for us as digital nomads only living in a place for one to three months I don't get nearly as deep an understanding of the rootedness of a place. But in exchange for that I feel like I've got a so much bigger understanding of the world as a whole.
None of us gets everything in life. We have to make our choices and accept the pros and cons.
Yes, that's a nice way of looking at it. The breadth of difference but a 'dialogue' with each other - in the form of money or resources or something...
I've often approached these discussions around digital nomads by highlighting the negative impacts of gentrification, but the longer I live in Spain, the more often I hear about the positive impact of foreign money. More often than not, it's me, not the locals, complaining about the high-rises on the beach, the groups of English lads yelling, and the big shopping complexes.
In many rural areas, housing prices are still too high for the average person to afford, and from what I understand, it has nothing to do with expats driving up prices –– there aren't expats living there in the first place. When it comes to housing prices, there are too many other factors at play to blame the digital nomads. And when it comes to the inflation of food prices, again, little to do with expats. If anything, when I hear locals complain about how much more expensive life is than in the past, they blame government policies, printing money, etc.,
Of course, I'm referring to Spain specifically, and everyone's experience is different. As far as the nomads' responsibility goes, I think slow travel is still something to focus on. Become part of the local community, go beyond the expat hangouts, spend money at local places, and learn the damn language. If you want to be a digital nomad, do it because you want to become part of another culture, not so you can show-off off all the places you've lived. And if you hate the government, complain about taxes, and you're struggling to make ends meet, you're one step towards sounding local. And if you hate the government, complain about taxes, and you're making tons of money, you're likely having the same negative impact on the countries you're visiting as you would back home. Really, it comes down to not being a douchebag, and as far as the influx of foreign money goes, "It depends on how governments respond."
Either way, I'm looking forward to reading more because I definitely don't have all the answers. These are just some thoughts.
Thanks for sharing. I agree with a lot of your points. I think that in Spain the high cost of rural areas is often the cost of upkeep of old houses. But Spain (and all of Europe) is suffering from massive depopulation, so that generally will make real estate go down. I will be addressing this aspect of it in my next piece.
Thank you for sharing this perspective! We are emigrating to Catalonia this summer and I’ve admittedly been concerned about how we will be received, whether or not we end up mastering Catalán well enough to be appreciated. More than this, I deeply appreciate the reminder that, in some places at least, all the hand wringing is yet another example of American tendencies to think ourselves the center of the universe and the cause and solution to all the ills of the world. 😉
In my experience, learning even just a little Catalan will go a long way in winning over locals. Especially if your Catalan is better than your Spanish haha!
This is exactly the sort of nuanced take that I think we all need. And I'm not surprised to read it here on The Missive because it's the tone Marko sets.
As someone moving to Europe to gain citizenship I think about these questions a lot. Thank you for this dialogue and a brilliant piece of writing Marko. For me, I think it starts with taxation.
Nomads and long-term visitors need to pay something to those countries for the privilege of being there past the normal vacation period. And locals need to get tax breaks to stay and time just for them at favorite destinations. Some carrots and sticks and policies that balance out the advantages one group has over the other.
I live on the edge of Glacier National Park. We have experienced a huge uptick in tourists since 2020. The park has responded by limiting everyone’s access and requiring people to buy tickets in advance. Locals are furious. I’m not that bothered by it but I do think it feels punitive to people who are connected to the park (especially the Blackfeet Indians). It’s as if the park itself just became gentrified.
The wealthy need to pay their fair share of taxes and not be allowed to pollute the world with private jets and yachts for free. They also don’t get to float around and enjoy the benefits of schools, roads, police, health care, etc and not pay into it.
We also need to limit vacation rental homes so that affordable housing is still available on the rental market. There needs to be more protection for people who live in formerly unpopular places that suddenly become popular.
So a suite of immigration and tourism visa changes and policies are needed to balance this all out. In my humble opinion.
About ways to improve things for locals either upset or affected by the influx of nomads, I have a couple of ideas...
1) Whilst many locals benefit from apps like Airbnb and Uber, they aren't demographically fair. Some groups tend to benefit (people who own property, people who own cars) whilst others don't, and furthermore may experience negative effects (rents rising etc). There could be an app for people who either just don't like nomads, or feel negatively marginalised by them, which could funnel donations from nomads (when they feel like it or having a good day) to those individuals. This would provide a direct and decentralised possible way to improve the situation. It would also serve to "break down" some of the real issues that locals have. A lot of people hide behind anonymity to criticise and blame and having to actually show your face and take a genuine stance can raise people's awareness. When I heard about the wave of anti-nomad flyers in CDMX, it's like I suspect that is the work of one pissed-off individual and not necessarily representative of local feeling. An app could provide an interface for more direct and personal communication between locals and nomads and help to stop issues getting lost in deeper political stuff.
2) I think some nomads could also benefit from learning how to be authentic and stand up for themselves whilst travelling. In short, how to get respect from locals. I have witnessed nomads in southern Mexico hand-wringing about the plight of locals in such an appallingly Western and patronising manner, if I were a local I would be utterly enraged. When I'm in a poorer country, one of the first things I'm busy with is getting respect. I'm not going to take being charged by a taxi cab 5 times the going rate. I'm not going pay 3 times the local rate for a kilo of potatoes to an old woman in the market. I'll pay a bit more than locals but I'm not going to let them take the piss. I politely stand my ground. In doing so I engage with locals directly, on terms that they themselves relate to (price/value), not through some pseudo-moral Western lens.
Really enjoying this series. Wished there was more emphasis on Lauren's point from the first one..."But the forces driving nomads to move across borders in the first place are often the result of similar gentrification problems impacting the places they choose to leave. The traditional markers of success in the West are increasingly difficult for people to achieve without moving to cheaper locations, whether in their own country or abroad."
Many of these nomads, whether you claim they are disrupting the places they visit or not, are akin to the immigrants you speak of. I think framing things that way builds more compassion and understanding for all parties.
A tragedy of social media that ties into the nomad life is pressure to put up highlights only or exaggerate struggle into something that seems glamorous. For example, I am a nomad largely because cost of living where I'm from is insane. Would love to see a post on van life for example. In the USA, van life is becoming increasingly glamorized yet is often a very real response to being unable to rent or own a home. Digital nomad-ing across the globe is a similar phenomenon.
IMO the root of the problem is currency debasing and the resulting housing crisis. Nomads would feel less pressure to move if they could afford similar accomodations where they are from.
I totally agree. The housing crisis is the core problem. I've written about that angle extensively in past pieces (see the links at the top of the article) so I didn't want to rehash it again in this series. besides a cursory mention of the housing shortage. I think a key missing piece is demographics - which countries are experiencing housing shortages versus which are facing a population bust? If we can start connecting supply and demand on a global scale, we might be able to ease pressure in overpopulated cities while revitalizing rural areas in decline.
Literally the most comprehensive and articulate piece on the subject I've yet seen. Excellent.
And stay tuned for the next phase... As Chinese-funded groups in Africa and West Asia begin pumping the white imperialist narrative, and many locals come to realise the geopolitical underpinnings of Western NGOs abroad, so digital nomads find themselves increasingly painted as mere vessels of colonialism... https://devaraj2.substack.com/p/digital-nomads-the-new-colonials-683
I think this is a significant part of it. I've noticed how TikTok in particular has vitriolic rhetoric against nomads, and I am curious as to whether the CCP is putting its thumb on that type of content to increase animosity towards westerners in the developing world. It would not surprise me in the slightest.
Haha, yes, hadn't thought of that. Though I was just watching defriedbanana on TikTok making fun of all the different travellers in Bali.
I also wonder if anyone studies how much nomads actually diversify their locations. It often seems like everyone heads to the same cities... Ubud, Medellin, Lisboa, CDMX, Almaty, etc. Making it hardly surprising that locals start to feel overwhelmed.
And also that, after a year or two, we develop more of a routine of specific places at specific times of year (like whales!), aligning with friends who do the same. If so, I think this points to us finding ways to get certain unconscious social and ritual needs met that we'd otherwise lose from not living in one place.
I think there's a lot that could usefully be studied in the behaviour of nomads, that would point to why these dramas are happening.
What a brilliant piece - succinct yet nuanced. Can't wait to read the next two posts. It does seem that some kind of payback needs exacting from nomads - above and beyond 'spends' on food and accommodation in the local community. The money would need putting back into the community somehow. Or if not imposed by governments, by Airbnb or by donation or through community groups or something. Many nomads would want to contribute if there was a way?
I'm not surprised by the nuance being presented in the series. These are many issues we've thought about over the past six years, striving to not be part of the problem through the choices and connections we make.
My thoughts stem from the fact that we so often venture beyond the usual nomad hubs of Lisbon and Mexico City and Spain, where the issue is definitely complicated.
I can tell you from firsthand experience that places like Sarajevo and Mostar in Bosnia and Novi Sad in Serbia and Tbilisi, Georgia, were absolutely thrilled to have outsiders visit and spend much needed money. And the idea that we would stay longer than just a couple of days was often unfathomable to people.
Upon learning we were living in Sarajevo for two months said, "Why on earth would you stay in this shithole country that long." It was heartbreaking even as I understood why they felt that way and why the country is suffering a brain drain.
Of course, it can go too far. Our first year we stayed in Matera, Italy, a town far to the south that was trying very hard to attract more people. It was an amazing place to spend a month and we were welcomed with open arms. It's now grown massively in popularity, in part after being featured in the last James Bond movie, and locals are probably -- I don't know for sure -- feeling much more crowded out.
But would they want to go back to being completely ignored? We'd have to ask them but I think the answer is no.
Just started reading but wanted to say that I hate how much I like those images created by Midjourney. I've got a friend who is a graphic designer and I wonder how long her job will be around for...
I'm trying an experiment by living in my hometown as a "nomad" and it's remarkable how it changes the way this place I grew up feels. I'm sitting in the lobby of one of the newest modern hotels in the city center with a crowd of other visitors passing through and pretending for a moment that I don't know that there's an unhoused tent village across the highway or that most of my artist friends have moved outside the city. All the things I can't see from this perspective, without local attachments and a community of people doing favors for each other, make me feel like I'm floating as a moored ship in this port. I'm jealous of how carefree this view of my city feels but it also has its own poverty-- none of the richness of what I love about this place and the faces I imagined as I walked the streets as a resident is reflected here. None of the people I knew who passed away on these streets flavor the view from this new lobby window. So I end up feeling rather sorry for the folks who float through on this global surface layer, because they will never experience the type of place this is when you give up some free will and allow yourself to be planted by a community and connected to the root structure. And yet, this is a port city, so the floating part has always been as much of the heart of the place as the land-- and maybe it's me that was a bit out of touch with it. Just like theres a root network of folks embedded here, theres also networks connecting immigrant diasporas, fishing routes, cruise ships, regional metropolitan economies. So even though the view from this floating window is strange to me, maybe it's more real in a way. Both the rooted and floating views make up the richness of this place but I think perhaps they don't have a strong enough dialogue with each other-- so I'm imagining what a healthy port city would look like where the balance of the floating world and the rooted world would enrich everyone
Very interesting analogy. Which port city are you based in? And where have your artist friends moved to?
I like what you say about both the rooted and floating views making up the richness. I think that's 100% true and something that each POV can forget about the other.
I know for us as digital nomads only living in a place for one to three months I don't get nearly as deep an understanding of the rootedness of a place. But in exchange for that I feel like I've got a so much bigger understanding of the world as a whole.
None of us gets everything in life. We have to make our choices and accept the pros and cons.
Yes, that's a nice way of looking at it. The breadth of difference but a 'dialogue' with each other - in the form of money or resources or something...
I've often approached these discussions around digital nomads by highlighting the negative impacts of gentrification, but the longer I live in Spain, the more often I hear about the positive impact of foreign money. More often than not, it's me, not the locals, complaining about the high-rises on the beach, the groups of English lads yelling, and the big shopping complexes.
In many rural areas, housing prices are still too high for the average person to afford, and from what I understand, it has nothing to do with expats driving up prices –– there aren't expats living there in the first place. When it comes to housing prices, there are too many other factors at play to blame the digital nomads. And when it comes to the inflation of food prices, again, little to do with expats. If anything, when I hear locals complain about how much more expensive life is than in the past, they blame government policies, printing money, etc.,
Of course, I'm referring to Spain specifically, and everyone's experience is different. As far as the nomads' responsibility goes, I think slow travel is still something to focus on. Become part of the local community, go beyond the expat hangouts, spend money at local places, and learn the damn language. If you want to be a digital nomad, do it because you want to become part of another culture, not so you can show-off off all the places you've lived. And if you hate the government, complain about taxes, and you're struggling to make ends meet, you're one step towards sounding local. And if you hate the government, complain about taxes, and you're making tons of money, you're likely having the same negative impact on the countries you're visiting as you would back home. Really, it comes down to not being a douchebag, and as far as the influx of foreign money goes, "It depends on how governments respond."
Either way, I'm looking forward to reading more because I definitely don't have all the answers. These are just some thoughts.
Thanks for sharing. I agree with a lot of your points. I think that in Spain the high cost of rural areas is often the cost of upkeep of old houses. But Spain (and all of Europe) is suffering from massive depopulation, so that generally will make real estate go down. I will be addressing this aspect of it in my next piece.
Thank you for sharing this perspective! We are emigrating to Catalonia this summer and I’ve admittedly been concerned about how we will be received, whether or not we end up mastering Catalán well enough to be appreciated. More than this, I deeply appreciate the reminder that, in some places at least, all the hand wringing is yet another example of American tendencies to think ourselves the center of the universe and the cause and solution to all the ills of the world. 😉
In my experience, learning even just a little Catalan will go a long way in winning over locals. Especially if your Catalan is better than your Spanish haha!
This is exactly the sort of nuanced take that I think we all need. And I'm not surprised to read it here on The Missive because it's the tone Marko sets.
This was the most informed piece I’ve read in a long time. SO incredibly well-written, Marko.
Appreciate this greatly as someone who’s been a nomad since ‘09 and have often found myself torn. Looking forward to the rest of the series!
Thank you for reading! Do you have any insights to add to the discussion? Next week we'll be trying to offer solutions.
As someone moving to Europe to gain citizenship I think about these questions a lot. Thank you for this dialogue and a brilliant piece of writing Marko. For me, I think it starts with taxation.
Nomads and long-term visitors need to pay something to those countries for the privilege of being there past the normal vacation period. And locals need to get tax breaks to stay and time just for them at favorite destinations. Some carrots and sticks and policies that balance out the advantages one group has over the other.
I live on the edge of Glacier National Park. We have experienced a huge uptick in tourists since 2020. The park has responded by limiting everyone’s access and requiring people to buy tickets in advance. Locals are furious. I’m not that bothered by it but I do think it feels punitive to people who are connected to the park (especially the Blackfeet Indians). It’s as if the park itself just became gentrified.
The wealthy need to pay their fair share of taxes and not be allowed to pollute the world with private jets and yachts for free. They also don’t get to float around and enjoy the benefits of schools, roads, police, health care, etc and not pay into it.
We also need to limit vacation rental homes so that affordable housing is still available on the rental market. There needs to be more protection for people who live in formerly unpopular places that suddenly become popular.
So a suite of immigration and tourism visa changes and policies are needed to balance this all out. In my humble opinion.
About ways to improve things for locals either upset or affected by the influx of nomads, I have a couple of ideas...
1) Whilst many locals benefit from apps like Airbnb and Uber, they aren't demographically fair. Some groups tend to benefit (people who own property, people who own cars) whilst others don't, and furthermore may experience negative effects (rents rising etc). There could be an app for people who either just don't like nomads, or feel negatively marginalised by them, which could funnel donations from nomads (when they feel like it or having a good day) to those individuals. This would provide a direct and decentralised possible way to improve the situation. It would also serve to "break down" some of the real issues that locals have. A lot of people hide behind anonymity to criticise and blame and having to actually show your face and take a genuine stance can raise people's awareness. When I heard about the wave of anti-nomad flyers in CDMX, it's like I suspect that is the work of one pissed-off individual and not necessarily representative of local feeling. An app could provide an interface for more direct and personal communication between locals and nomads and help to stop issues getting lost in deeper political stuff.
2) I think some nomads could also benefit from learning how to be authentic and stand up for themselves whilst travelling. In short, how to get respect from locals. I have witnessed nomads in southern Mexico hand-wringing about the plight of locals in such an appallingly Western and patronising manner, if I were a local I would be utterly enraged. When I'm in a poorer country, one of the first things I'm busy with is getting respect. I'm not going to take being charged by a taxi cab 5 times the going rate. I'm not going pay 3 times the local rate for a kilo of potatoes to an old woman in the market. I'll pay a bit more than locals but I'm not going to let them take the piss. I politely stand my ground. In doing so I engage with locals directly, on terms that they themselves relate to (price/value), not through some pseudo-moral Western lens.
These are my suggestions.
Really enjoying this series. Wished there was more emphasis on Lauren's point from the first one..."But the forces driving nomads to move across borders in the first place are often the result of similar gentrification problems impacting the places they choose to leave. The traditional markers of success in the West are increasingly difficult for people to achieve without moving to cheaper locations, whether in their own country or abroad."
Many of these nomads, whether you claim they are disrupting the places they visit or not, are akin to the immigrants you speak of. I think framing things that way builds more compassion and understanding for all parties.
A tragedy of social media that ties into the nomad life is pressure to put up highlights only or exaggerate struggle into something that seems glamorous. For example, I am a nomad largely because cost of living where I'm from is insane. Would love to see a post on van life for example. In the USA, van life is becoming increasingly glamorized yet is often a very real response to being unable to rent or own a home. Digital nomad-ing across the globe is a similar phenomenon.
IMO the root of the problem is currency debasing and the resulting housing crisis. Nomads would feel less pressure to move if they could afford similar accomodations where they are from.
I totally agree. The housing crisis is the core problem. I've written about that angle extensively in past pieces (see the links at the top of the article) so I didn't want to rehash it again in this series. besides a cursory mention of the housing shortage. I think a key missing piece is demographics - which countries are experiencing housing shortages versus which are facing a population bust? If we can start connecting supply and demand on a global scale, we might be able to ease pressure in overpopulated cities while revitalizing rural areas in decline.
Literally the most comprehensive and articulate piece on the subject I've yet seen. Excellent.
And stay tuned for the next phase... As Chinese-funded groups in Africa and West Asia begin pumping the white imperialist narrative, and many locals come to realise the geopolitical underpinnings of Western NGOs abroad, so digital nomads find themselves increasingly painted as mere vessels of colonialism... https://devaraj2.substack.com/p/digital-nomads-the-new-colonials-683
I think this is a significant part of it. I've noticed how TikTok in particular has vitriolic rhetoric against nomads, and I am curious as to whether the CCP is putting its thumb on that type of content to increase animosity towards westerners in the developing world. It would not surprise me in the slightest.
Haha, yes, hadn't thought of that. Though I was just watching defriedbanana on TikTok making fun of all the different travellers in Bali.
I also wonder if anyone studies how much nomads actually diversify their locations. It often seems like everyone heads to the same cities... Ubud, Medellin, Lisboa, CDMX, Almaty, etc. Making it hardly surprising that locals start to feel overwhelmed.
And also that, after a year or two, we develop more of a routine of specific places at specific times of year (like whales!), aligning with friends who do the same. If so, I think this points to us finding ways to get certain unconscious social and ritual needs met that we'd otherwise lose from not living in one place.
I think there's a lot that could usefully be studied in the behaviour of nomads, that would point to why these dramas are happening.
What a brilliant piece - succinct yet nuanced. Can't wait to read the next two posts. It does seem that some kind of payback needs exacting from nomads - above and beyond 'spends' on food and accommodation in the local community. The money would need putting back into the community somehow. Or if not imposed by governments, by Airbnb or by donation or through community groups or something. Many nomads would want to contribute if there was a way?
Totally. Any suggestions? What about nomad taxes that come with visas?
I'm not surprised by the nuance being presented in the series. These are many issues we've thought about over the past six years, striving to not be part of the problem through the choices and connections we make.
Thank you. Feel free to add some of your own thoughts to the conversation -- and let's definitely discuss the collaboration ideas you mentioned.
And very much up to discuss those ideas.
My thoughts stem from the fact that we so often venture beyond the usual nomad hubs of Lisbon and Mexico City and Spain, where the issue is definitely complicated.
I can tell you from firsthand experience that places like Sarajevo and Mostar in Bosnia and Novi Sad in Serbia and Tbilisi, Georgia, were absolutely thrilled to have outsiders visit and spend much needed money. And the idea that we would stay longer than just a couple of days was often unfathomable to people.
Upon learning we were living in Sarajevo for two months said, "Why on earth would you stay in this shithole country that long." It was heartbreaking even as I understood why they felt that way and why the country is suffering a brain drain.
Of course, it can go too far. Our first year we stayed in Matera, Italy, a town far to the south that was trying very hard to attract more people. It was an amazing place to spend a month and we were welcomed with open arms. It's now grown massively in popularity, in part after being featured in the last James Bond movie, and locals are probably -- I don't know for sure -- feeling much more crowded out.
But would they want to go back to being completely ignored? We'd have to ask them but I think the answer is no.
It's all so complicated.
Just started reading but wanted to say that I hate how much I like those images created by Midjourney. I've got a friend who is a graphic designer and I wonder how long her job will be around for...
Yes! Maybe she'll have to become adept at using Midjourney herself, as a tool to accelerate her process?
I think that's the key. Use it to your advantage rather than be displaced by it.