Digital-nomad community
HINOMAD
A community that gives people a reason to return to Gangwon.
HINOMAD is a digital nomad community and workation brand. Since 2021, we have run programs in Sokcho, Yangyang, Yeongwol, Pyeongchang, and Gangneung. Visits to nomad hubs in Bali, Chiang Mai, Lisbon, and Madeira have shaped how we bring people together here.
People · Stay
Freedom to work. A community to grow.
HINOMAD started from one observation: there was still no structure that let people living and working as digital nomads work sustainably, connect with each other, and live alongside a local community.
A different way to work
Remote workers, freelancers and nomads choose where they work. They need opportunities to connect and grow wherever they are.
The isolation of working alone
The freedom to work anywhere came with isolation, disconnection and stalled growth. What’s missing is a structure for growing sustainably.
Regional decline and the limits of workation policy
Regions need more working-age people and skilled professionals. Workation programs can bring visitors in, but lasting relationships take ongoing effort.
Connection for people. Lasting ties for places.
INDIVIDUALS
Free but isolated, growth capped → connected growth through community-based learning and collaboration
REGIONS
Short visits → longer stays and stronger ties to local communities
POLICY & MARKET
Workations without community → an operator with community expertise takes charge of steady demand and programs
More nomads, longer stays
We read public research alongside our visits to nomad hubs. People who work while traveling can build lasting relationships with a place.
18.5M
US digital nomads
Up 153% since 2019, according to MBO Partners’ 2025 US study.
MBO Partners, 20256.4 weeks
Longer in one place
Average time per destination rose from 5.4 weeks in 2023 to 6.4 weeks in 2025 in the same study.
MBO Partners, 2025Our own numbers point the same way: one in five participants comes back, and 97% say they were satisfied.
What we've learned from running workations
From Yeongwol’s villages and Gangwon’s beaches to Seoul and overseas, we tested how workations and meetups turn short stays into return visits and collaboration.
- Short stay
- Return visits
- Deeper ties
- Collaboration
- Paid participants
- 798
- Programs run
- 23
- Projects built together
- 24
- Return rate: one in five came back
- 1/5
- Participant satisfaction
- 97%
- Community members (approx.)
- 300
From isolation to connection, from one-off to relationship
- People who came alone return to the next workation with a friend.
- Early participants keep joining year after year and become ambassadors.
- Teams and projects form after meeting, and regular gatherings continue long after the event.
From tourists to partners, from seasonal to year-round
- Nomads’ expertise connected with local businesses and city projects, producing real collaborations.
- One-time visits led to return trips and longer stays, building stronger ties to the region.
- Village-scale workations in Yeongwol and Yangyang, plus family and global editions.
HINOMAD operating figures as of September 2026
People keep coming back because they experience a structure where they grow together and the relationships remain.
We want to show that this is a way to live
To us, a digital nomad is someone who chooses where and how to live. Anyone with freedom over their time and place is a nomad. HINOMAD holds on to three things.
A life you choose
We show, with our own lives, that this is a way to live. It’s the kind of place where you start a project with the person sitting next to you in a class.
Connection
Connection leads to opportunities, friendships, experiences and growth. We seat Korean remote workers and international nomads at one table.
Growing with the local community
Stay longer, spend locally while you stay, share your expertise with the region. This is our answer to regional decline.
Connected anywhere. Growing together.
We connect people around the world and help them grow with local communities. Our vision is a Sokcho that nomads return to, with sea, mountains and places to work close by.
Four ways we meet
Insight camps & workations
Stay-based programs combining work, learning, relationships and local experience. AI, branding, career design, remote-work skills.
Networking parties
Networking that leads to lasting relationships and real collaborations.
Salons & workshops
Small, in-depth conversations. Trust builds through repeated meetings.
Project collaboration
Project-based collaboration with experts across fields. 24 projects have started inside the community.
Our first base camp
After years of meeting across Gangwon, HINOMAD LAB soft-opened in downtown Sokcho on September 18, 2026. It is a place to work, meet regularly, and share what we know with local people.
Explore HINOMAD LAB
With companies and cities
Team workations & offsites
- Team workations and offsites in Sokcho, with space, programs, and local itineraries
- Workshops combined with our corporate AI training (Kurly, Dong-A ST, Ceragem, NHIS)
- Co-designing workation programs for employees
Programs that bring people back
- Co-designing and running workations and camps (rural, seaside, urban and overseas experience)
- Data reports on stay person-days, return visits and local participation
- Co-designing programs for international nomads planning a stay in Korea
What it means for mindtouch
More reasons to come back to Gangwon.
HINOMAD gives people a reason to return to Gangwon. Those relationships can continue at HINOMAD LAB in Sokcho.
Have a project in mind?
Have a tourism, community, or AI project in mind? Tell us what you're working on.