The travel and hospitality industry has encountered a significant slump as a result of the global pandemic we’re facing. Whilst many are struggling, and seeking help from government bailouts, one question that still remains is – how quickly and how effective will any recovery be?
Digital Nomad World have undertaken some research in light of the pandemic, playing a particular interest to nomadic workers.
A study conducted by the Office of National Statistics (ONS), within the UK, has found that of the 5,316 that responded to the survey – 25% has said they have temporarily closed or paused trading in the two weeks prior to 5th April. Of the same audience, only very few have reported to be doing well.
Playing particular interest to digital nomads – those who work from various places across the world, likely in a self-employed or freelance basis, it would appear its very much business as usual in terms of their revenues and workload:
Our survey, screened with the question – ‘Are you a nomadic worker?’ – and only allowing those who answered with a yes,= through to the next question, shows this:
Just over 20% of people said that their business had dried up, with little over 2% responding with entirely the opposite response. However, of great interest is that over 76% of digital nomads reported that it was very much business as usual for them, in terms of their revenues and workload.
One hypothesis is the nature of the roles they’re doing – likely in the digital sector – one that would appear somewhat immune to the economic slump, based on the data collected.
Nomadic workers will typically work from coffee shops, bars, hotels – thus aligning their activity with the trade variations in the hospitality sector.
As expected, searches for ‘coffee shop near me’ have slumped in both the US and the UK since the outbreak of Covid-19. Searches are now around just 25% of what they were at the end of January, as the sector has ceased trading, albeit temporarily.
Nomadic workers will often vary their place of work – be it country, town, city and indeed continent.
As such, the reliance on the aviation industry is there for all to see, but with flights grounded altogether, getting around has become a struggle.
Some of the flight schedule changes from March 16th include:
- Italy -73.9%
- China -38.7%
- Germany -30.2%
- UK -19.3
- United States -0.5%
As you can see from the US, even mid-way through March when many in Europe were closing their borders, the industry was operating as normal. The worldwide aviation downturn didn’t end there however:
Google searches for cheap flights peaked at the start of March, but then took a major downturn thereafter – the figure at less than 20% of what it was when it peaked.
With parts of Europe starting to ease their lockdown measures, and Covid-19 cases starting to decrease in some locations – Google Trend data indicates that consumers are becoming more active in their research of the industry, ready for when restrictions are lifted:
Travel tip related searches are currently seeing a surge of around 500% in comparison to the start of April – an indicator that many are getting itchy feet in their quest to move.
Whilst industries have been battered across the globe, and a worldwide economic recession is imminent, one thing is for sure – nomadic working is a sector that hasn’t seen the downturn that others have. Whilst their working locations may have had to remain the same, for the time being at least – so too have their revenues and their business activity.
The digital industry is core, and this data suggests no different.
By Amichai Ben David
Amichai and Yair have been digital nomad entrepreneurs since 2016, traveling the world and working remotely with their wives. Thedigitalnomadworld.com was created by them in early 2020 with a mission to help out others who dream of living the life style of a digital nomad, in the hope to bring all the information needed under one roof, and create a community of nomads for nomads.”