The Caribbean has intensified its efforts to attract more digital nomads to the region by marketing its destinations as a one-stop shop for remote workers.

Following a recent partnership with global homesharing giant Airbnb, the Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO) launched its “Work from the Caribbean” campaign, an extension of Airbnb’s Live and Work Anywhere programme, through which the entity seeks to not only attract an influx of digital nomads to the region, but to also revive tourism and provide economic support to local communities after months of restrictions.

Digital nomads are people who conduct their life in a nomadic manner, often engaging in work activities remotely using digital telecommunications technology from just about anywhere in the world. Since the novel coronavirus pandemic, these types of travellers have seen exponential growth especially as more people seek to have autonomy over their hours and earnings.

Through the campaign, which is designed to highlight and promote various destinations, digital nomads are provided, through a landing page, with a raft of information on how they can secure visas for travels to various countries and also about the best Airbnb facilities from which they can stay and work. The partnership is one of the many initiatives in the regional organisation’s programmes which is geared towards helping its members to rebuild and to shed light on digital nomad offerings across the different destinations.

The promotional landing page, it said, will be unique to others worldwide and will highlight approximately 16 participating destinations having options for digital nomads. These include: Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Guyana, Martinique, Montserrat, St Eustatius, St Kitts, St Lucia, St Maarten, and Trinidad. The region, which has not been very big in this market, previously made attempts to attract these types of travellers back in 2020 when Barbados kicked things off with its Welcome Stamp programme later followed by the One Year Work from Bermuda programme.

“The steady recovery of Caribbean tourism has been driven by innovation and a willingness to seize opportunities like the rise of digital nomads and the development of long-stay programmes to diversify the visitor experience in the region. The CTO is pleased that Airbnb has identified the Caribbean as one to highlight in its global Live and Work Anywhere programme, and in doing so, support the continued success of the region,” stated Faye Gill, CTO director in charge of membership services.

The Live and Work Anywhere programme recently launched by Airbnb aims to help the Caribbean in promoting its destinations as viable options for digital nomads, since they are people who can live and work from anywhere.

“Airbnb is proud to partner again with the CTO in order to keep promoting different destinations in the Caribbean so people can work and travel within. This campaign is a new joint effort that will continue to help with the promotion of the wonderful region,” Carlos Muñoz, policy manager for Central America and the Caribbean at Airbnb, said.