Portugal: Madeira on top of remote work destinations

Around 700 digital nomads currently live in Madeira and more than 7,000 have expressed interest in moving to the region, the regional secretary for the Economy, Rui Barreto announced.

 

“We are now in a phase where we also want to let private individuals be partners and let the market work. I think it is a success, because we already have 700 people living and working in Madeira,” said Rui Barreto.

The regional secretary added that the “platform has more than 7,000 registered people who have already shown interest” in moving to the region and underlined that this project has positioned Madeira on the map as “one of the 10 best destinations in the world to work remotely”.

 

The governor paid a visit to the Hub Remotely @ Vila Galé, a new workspace for digital nomads that arose from a collaboration between StartUp Madeira, under the auspices of the Regional Secretariat of Economy, and the team of entrepreneurs behind ‘HubRemotly,' in support of the expansion of the ‘Digital Nomads Madeira Islands' project to other municipalities across the archipelago.

Digital Nomads began with a pilot project, which ran from February 1 to June 30, and was sponsored by the Regional Secretariat of Economy of this archipelago and Startup Madeira.

 

The community of digital nomads, local companies (hoteliers and owners of local accommodation, tourist entertainment companies, restaurants, rent-a-car companies, health, consulting, and lawyers, among others), the John dos Passos Cultural Centre, NOS Madeira (Internet), and international platforms are all partners in this project, which aims to attract remote workers (Nomadx and Flatio.com).

This is a commercial opportunity that, according to Rui Barreto, "has a big influence on the economy" and also serves as a means of promoting Madeira to the rest of the globe.

“Madeira offers fantastic weather in both the north and south. They prefer the south because of the warmer weather and better sea conditions, but there will always be some who prefer the north, and we are already working in the municipalities of Santana, So Vicente, and Porto Moniz,” he said.