And if these employees can log-on from abroad, she thinks her native Barbados could become a model for others to follow. “The dream used to be to work somewhere like Thailand, but I foresee Barbados and other islands that fit the bill becoming the Caribbean versions once correct standards and procedures are in place.”

Cook, the anthropologist, isn’t so sure. They remain sceptical about some of the hastily formed remote worker visas, saying the idea of digital nomadism – with all its idealistic images of laptops on beaches – is often used as a lazy marketing tool. Some countries, they say, are “just looking for ways to increase visitor count without really understanding the digital-nomad perspective, or that these people like to go places where there are coworking spaces, networking events and a sort of structure that doesn’t necessarily arise overnight.”

But they do think that these new visas suggest “we are going to get a merging of this digital-nomad subculture and this global conversation about remote work”.

The emergence of these programmes may mean that an entirely new segment of the workforce that never before considered working from abroad will now realise its potential allure. And, for digital nomads who are already looking abroad, the set-up of these semi-permanent schemes are encouraging them to slow down, settle in one place for a while and use the opportunity as a ‘test drive’.

“What this term ‘digital nomad’ will mean in a year’s time from now is a big question,” says Cook. “But people are beginning to dream again, and they’re imagining a new and better future.”