In this new section, some of our brilliant UG students who have excelled at their dissertations tell us more about their research. Today, we have Claudio Pigozzo, whose dissertation is “Challenging Traditional Tourist Typologies through the Digital Nomad Lens”, which was supervised by Dr. Alexandra Witte.
Digital nomadism is reshaping how we think about travel. My dissertation explored how digital nomads, people who combine remote work with long-term travel, fit into traditional tourist typologies.
Through in-depth interviews with 13 nomads from around the world, five different types of digital nomads emerged: Flash Nomads, Cultural Immersive Nomads, Seasonal Nomads, Settled Sojourners, and Rooted Roamers. These categories reflect different motivations, lifestyles, concepts of “home”, and levels of mobility, yet all share a reliance on digital infrastructure, cost of living awareness and adaptive coping strategies. This research highlights how digital nomads blur the lines between being a tourist and a resident, work and leisure, and permanence and transience. It also offers practical insights for destinations looking to attract and support this growing group, co-working hubs, flexible visa policies, and inclusive communities.
As digital nomadism becomes more mainstream, tourism theory needs to catch up. This is just the beginning of understanding this mobile, connected lifestyle.
Read the full dissertation by Claudio Pigozzo, BA (Hons) International Tourism Management.