Digital capitalism has contributed to create new forms of organization in which work, and place have lost weight as identity elements, and delocalization and leisure have gained importance, in a context of socio-productive deregulation. Therefore, new lifestyles linked to residential relocation such as digital nomadism and remote working are appearing. In this background and paradoxically, the pandemic favoured residential relocation and nomadism linked to teleworking. The destinations selected by these workers are those where they share experiences, manage relationships, and find elements of ‘sameness’ and stability, demanded by tourists. Therefore, big cities and coastal areas are often the main receiving areas. However, some non-metropolitan zones, some of them with clears symptoms of decline, also have turned into reception spaces._x000D_
In Spain, the Canary Islands has grown as an important destination for workation migrants. The pandemic favored some stimulus measures for attracting them through tourist promotional actions and their implementation. Among them can be recognized those trying to energize left-behind areas. An example is those carried out by the Island Council and the Rural Development Association of La Palma (ADER) to empower professional ecosystems suit to digital nomads and remote teleworkers. As result of these measures, a pilot project named Nomadas La Palma was launched after the pandemic aiming to merge digital nomads with local businesses and inhabitants, turning them into a community of people with a positive social and economic impact on the villages. A similar initiative is that of “Pueblos Remotos” or “Connected Rurality” that promotes the development of activities integrated in local communities in Fuencaliente, at the south of the island, or in Antigua, at the island of Fuerteventura. The identification and explanation of these initiatives in left-behind areas constitute the aim of this document.

Claudio Moreno-Medina, Josefina Domínguez-Mujica, Juan M. Parreño-Castellano
University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (Spain)
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