Outsite Survey 2020: The State of Remote Work

Every year, we survey the Outsite Community to check the state of remote work, and attitudes towards travel. COVID-19 has shaped attitudes around travel unlike any other year, but the digital nomad boom is just beginning - with at least 50% of the U.S workforce working remotely, as of April 2020. Check out the following stats from the Outsite Community on travel intentions post-COVID.

Demographics

How old are Outsite Members?

The average age of an Outsite Member is 35 - an increase of 1 year since 2019.

Are digital nomads generally single, or in relationships?

65% of participants were single and/or divorced. The remaining percent were either in a relationship, and/or married.

What are these people working remotely on?

74% of participants were remote, marking a 24% increase from last year.

Most Members marked themselves as Entrepreneurs (28%) or Freelancers (24%). Both worked remotely the majority of the time.

When it came to their type of profession, many still categorised themselves as Entrepreneur (30%), with the remaining majority in Product & Engineering (28%) and Sales & Marketing (23%). In terms of industry, the vast majority worked in Software, Advertising & Media, with some peculiar outliers in healthcare, music, academia, and agriculture.

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Changes in Travel Intentions Post-COVID-19

How will COVID effect digital nomad travel plans? 

Pre-COVID, Members travelled more than 6 months of the year, on average.

Post-COVID, 24% have indicated that they tend to stay in places for longer, and closer to home. 9% indicated they will be returning to their normal travel schedules as soon as it's logistically possible.

How soon are people happy to fly, mid or post pandemic? 

57% said they were happy to travel within 6 months, with 25% indicating they were intent on travelling past the 6 month mark. Only 8% had responded that they would not be considering air travel.

Where will they be travelling?

85% of the people questioned indicated that European cities were still top of their travel wishlist, followed by 78% prioritising remote locations within Europe.

74% said that they would prioritize travel to remote locations in North America, followed by lifestyle cities (68%). North American urban locations were lowest on the travel wishlist, with 35% of respondents prioritising travel to these destinations.

Check out our previous survey here, or find out more about the Outsite Community.