The A-Zs that rocked 2021: New digital nomads

SINGAPORE - Working from home has become the norm during the pandemic.

Home could be a Housing Board flat in Yishun or an Airbnb apartment overlooking the sparkling Adriatic sea in Stobrec, Croatia.

The latter is where Mr Hendric Tay, founder of content media agency and travel publication The Travel Intern, picked as the first stop of a 10-month remote working trip around the world - as part of home-sharing platform Airbnb's Live Anywhere campaign.

The 34-year-old is travelling with three colleagues, including co-founder Cherie Sim, and is working remotely while managing the Singapore-headquartered company. Their accommodation will be sponsored by Airbnb.

The quartet left Singapore in October and have so far travelled to Croatia and Spain. Also on the itinerary are countries with a vibrant remote working culture such as Japan, Thailand and Portugal.

Between border closures, stay-home notices and, most recently, the emergence of the new Covid-19 variant Omicron, leisure travel has been elusive for most. But a handful of people have managed to combine work and play in long stints abroad.

Digital nomads are a growing trend and an attempt by travellers to get the best of both worlds, observed Accenture, a multinational company that specialises in IT services and consulting.

Airbnb, too, noted a rise in longer bookings. Its report on travel and living, released in May, found that the share of stays 28 days or longer increased 10 per cent in the first quarter of this year, compared with 2019.

For Mr Tay, long-term work and travel has been a dream even before the pandemic. He says: "Running a community-led business as a digital nomad is highly out of the norm in Singapore and I would love to inspire more people to do the same."

Another digital nomad, Ms Ho Ming Xia, has been working in countries such as Sweden, Austria, Finland and France since August.

The 26-year-old is head of community at Draper Startup House, which offers various services to digital nomads and entrepreneurs, including accommodation, co-working spaces and access to venture capital funding.

Her role involves business development and international expansion, which she says is more effective when done in person.

She adds: "Rather than travelling purely for leisure, the sweet spot about this role is being able to live in a place for longer periods, which allows for more time to explore and interact with locals and their culture."