In the last week of June, more than 300 digital nomads, remote workers, and freelancers made their way to a quaint mountain town in Bulgaria to take part in the Bansko Nomad Fest. With inspiring speakers, interactive workshops, community events, and lots of time in nature, the week-long festival was a true celebration of the location-independent lifestyle. Digital nomadism has already been on the rise in recent years, but with the increase in remote work opportunities, the community is set to explode. According to The Economist, by 2035, there will be 1 billion digital nomads in the world.

As one of the main partners of the event, our team at SALTO Systems was able to experience the magic behind the nomad community in Bansko first-hand. Previously, Bansko has been known for its ski slopes and old town, but over the last five years, it has become a notable hot spot for digital nomads, drawing in location independent travellers from all over the world and all year-round.

In order to create a customer-centric experience with our products, we believe in the importance of getting to know our end users and understanding their personal experiences, desires, and needs. At Bansko Nomad Fest, we were able to do just that. Coliving and coworking are all about connection, and having the opportunity to connect with the people who use our products daily in the stimulating festival environment was especially impactful. 

To find out all the key takeaways from the event, we reached out to our Think Tank Partner, Leah Ziliak, Founder of The Coliving Consultant and a digital nomad herself.

Read ahead for Leah’s on-the-ground experience of Bansko Nomad Fest!

So, how did a ski resort town in the middle of Bulgaria become one of the top digital nomad destinations?

In 2016, Uwe Allgäuer and Matthias Zeitler founded Coworking Bansko, with the intention of not only building a top-notch coworking space but developing a real community around it.  The results have been pretty incredible. Now, with multiple locations and 100+ members at any given time, Coworking Bansko has been able to foster an environment that supports entrepreneurs and remote workers, while cultivating an incredibly close-knit community.

With its picturesque location at the foot of the Pirin Mountains, it’s easy to see the allure of spending time in Bansko, but the real undeniable draw here? The community of Coworking Bansko.

Coworking Bansko has crafted its own unique community experience, one that makes its members feel at home right away. It’s not unusual for members to come for a week or two and end up staying for a few months or years. That’s the power of the community built in just these past few years.

Wanting to open the experience up to a larger audience, Coworking Bansko decided to create a festival to celebrate the location independent lifestyle and connect on an even bigger scale, and with that, Bansko Nomad Fest was born.

With attendees from over 30 different countries, the festival drew in crowds from all over the world. Israel and Italy also participated with their own Digital Nomad communities to join the international nomads who flocked to the festival. With 48% of attendees being women, it's clear that the work-from-anywhere trend is growing among female entrepreneurs and remote workers.

The festival itself was jam-packed with activities all week long, including professional events and workshops, alongside more community-based activities like bonfires, karaoke competitions, quiz nights, horseback riding, and pool parties. But, even during a quiet week at Coworking Bansko, you’ll find an entire schedule of events. With yoga classes, community dinners, skill shares, game nights, group hikes, and more, there are plenty of opportunities for members to connect on a daily basis. No matter your interests, there’s always something you can participate in.

With a strong interest in the coliving and coworking sector, the team at SALTO Systems had been hearing the buzz about Bansko for a while now and wanted to experience it first-hand. Nomad Fest was the perfect opportunity to connect with users and be fully immersed in the community. 

SALTO Systems’ Christian Schmitz, Global Lead of Shared Living and Workspaces, and Cate Maoilini, Community and Partnership Manager, presented their talks on The Freedom of the Cloud’ and Growth in Tech in the CO to the main stage audience. Bringing technology to the shared living and working experience is all about creating both a sense of connection and a sense of freedom. Both SALTO presentations took an in-depth look at the user journey experience and the tech needed within the coliving and coworking industries. From communication tools to cloud-based keyless access solutions, the duo discussed how properly integrated technology has the potential to improve the customer experience from the very first touchpoint to the last.

Additional highlights of the week included SALTO’s Sharing Is Caring workshop, bringing together festival participants to collaborate and find solutions to real-life issues they were facing. Along with a Virtual DJ Party, various networking events, and impromptu meetups, SALTO was able to provide their own community experiences and bring further awareness to the possibilities that tech solutions can have within the industry.

Digital Nomads are on the cutting edge of all types of industries: travel, tech, coliving, and coworking to name a few. They’re not the average traveller. Nomads have a very unique set of needs and a unique set of values. They are experience-driven and with a location independent lifestyle, strongly prioritize freedom, which is part of the reason SALTO’s access control solutions are such a powerful tool within the coliving and coworking industry/sector.

One of the things that stands out most while spending time in Bansko is the collaborative, supportive spirit that exists within the community. The personal connections derived from coliving and coworking are immense, but the benefits extend even beyond that. Being surrounded by a group of people with different mindsets and backgrounds allows for an incredible amount of personal growth opportunities.

The sharing economy is about more than just coliving or coworking together. It’s about combining skills, creating together, and sharing experiences that can enhance life in real tangible ways.

One of the biggest trends in coliving right now is the rise in rural and destination-based coliving experiences. Places like Bansko are proving that there’s so much value in a community. As a coliving or coworking operator, if you’re able to create an experience that’s truly unique, people will travel around the world to be part of it. On top of that, rural areas tend to offer a lower cost of living, access to nature, and an enhanced quality of life that you simply can’t find in major cities around the world. 

As the remote workforce increases, people are becoming more and more conscious about where they choose to live. If you can work anywhere, you can live anywhere too, right? It’s clear that the number of digital nomads will rise in the next several years. The numbers speak for themselves; an estimated 17 million people aspire to become nomads in the future. Analysts say that by 2035, there will be 1 billion digital nomads in the world. 

As for those that are already living the nomad life in Bulgaria, and in various hotspots around the world? They are early adopters of the shared living/working experience and part of a rapidly-growing demographic. 

Bansko offers community, ease of living, and the freedom to experience the world a little differently, factors that will one day become the norm. SALTO Systems has the ability to make a real impact within these communities by enabling seamless experiences and creating opportunities for connection through their solutions.

Christian Schmitz put it best, “Community is the key.”