Digital nomads are no longer a fringe group answering emails from cafés with unreliable Wi-Fi. They are a visible, measurable part of the travel economy. Governments are creating visas for them. Cities are reshaping neighbourhoods around them. Accommodation providers adjusted their offer years ago.
Whilst the world changes to accommodate them, most tours still have not.
Which is odd, because digital nomads are already in your city. They stay longer than tourists, spend locally, and actively look for ways to understand a place beyond the headline sights. Yet they rarely book tours.
How big is the market, really?
According to MBO Partners, there are now around 35 million digital nomads globally, more than double the number recorded in 2019. Europe has been one of the fastest-growing regions, with countries including Portugal, Spain, Croatia, Estonia, and Germany introducing digital nomad visas to attract long-stay remote workers.
You can see the impact clearly in places like Lisbon. As reported by The Guardian, the number of foreign-born residents in Portugal rose from roughly 450,000 in 2019 to around 1.5 million today. That is not a seasonal spike. That is a structural change in who is living in cities, how long they stay, and how they move through them.
These digital nomads transform beyond just a visitor or tourist, they become something closer to a temporary local.
Why most tours miss them
Most tours are designed for people passing through. Which is why most tours end up missing them, because digital nomads are not passing through.
Tour messaging still tends to focus on first-time visits, must-see highlights, and seeing everything in a short window. This doesn’t align with the digital nomad experience, because they see destinations and travel from a different perspective than the typical tourist.
They are there to work, not to go on holiday, and are looking for tours that match that schedule. They want something that fits into real life, not something that makes them feel like a tourist on a tight schedule.
The irony is that the product often fits them perfectly. A neighbourhood food tour, a craft workshop, or a deep dive walking tour is exactly what many remote workers are looking for. But when it is framed as something you do before you leave a city, it drops out of their consideration entirely.
Timing and friction matter more than you think
Digital nomads do not plan around weekends and peak season. They are far more likely to book midweek, at short notice, or on quieter days. Many tours are optimised for mornings, weekends, and high-volume flows. To a remote worker, that signals that the experience isn’t built for them.
You could have an amazing walking tour around the city, but if it only caters to people coming for the weekend, you might scare off digital nomads.
Small bits of friction matter too. Rigid start times after a full workday, strict cancellation rules, group formats that feel intense rather than social. It’s not that these times are necessarily wrong it just feels like it is built for someone other than the digital nomad.
How digital nomads actually find experiences
Digital nomads rarely discover tours through classic tourist search paths. They trust people, not listings.
They are far more likely to rely on WhatsApp, Slack, or Telegram groups, Reddit threads and city-specific forums, coworking spaces, café communities, and local newsletters or lifestyle media.
Research into remote work behaviour consistently shows that peer recommendations carry far more weight than OTA listings when booking in destination activities. If your tour only exists on OTAs and tourist keywords, it is largely invisible to this audience.
The tension operators need to understand
One of the most useful lessons from the Lisbon example is this. Long stay does not automatically mean deeper engagement. Many digital nomads fall into routines that are comfortable but shallow. Work, gym, coffee, repeat. They can live in a city for months without really joining it.
At the same time, there is growing tension in some destinations over affordability, housing, and the perception that newcomers enjoy the city without bearing the same costs. Operators do not need to take sides, but they do need to understand the context their guests are arriving in.
Tours and experiences are one of the few products that can genuinely bridge that gap. Done well, you are not selling a fun afternoon. You are offering context, confidence, and a way to cross from the expat bubble into the real city.
Why this matters for operators
Digital nomads are not a volume play, its not about bolstering your tours significantly in the peak season. It’s more about stability.
They travel year-round, book outside peak hours, and fill quieter days. They bring visiting friends and family, who then book experiences as well.
You can also expect that digital nomads to leave different reviews. More detailed, thoughtful, and useful for future guests.
When they find something that makes them feel like a temporary local rather than a temporary tourist, they recommend it consistently. In group chats, coworking kitchens, and communities where trust actually converts.
Travelling is a way of life, rather than an occasion, so they are more level-headed in expectation, and unafraid to let you know when you dropped the ball.
What reaching them really means
This is not about rebranding your tour as “for digital nomads”.
It is about talking about neighbourhoods rather than highlights. Offering flexibility for their busy schedules, and framing experiences as something locals do, not something tourists rush through.
Remote work has untethered travel from holiday calendars. With cities, governments, and even accommodation having changed to make it easier.
Tours are lagging not because they cannot serve this audience, but because they are still speaking to yesterday’s traveller.