This text is part of the special Pleasures notebook
In England, a travel agency is making tourists less dependent on flying by excluding air travel from all their journeys. And the little train goes a long way!
Some people look for ways to practice sustainable tourism. Others find them. This is the case of Englishwoman Cat Jones, founder and CEO of the travel agency Byway (“back road”). Launched in London in March 2020, in the middle of a pandemic, her company is unusual in that it does not offer any air travel to its customers. In fact, they travel exclusively by train or ferry. “And they all come to the same conclusion: traveling around the world is so much more enjoyable than flying over it!” she says.
For the holder of a master’s degree in science and sustainable development, reducing the number of short flights is a crucial element in the fight against global warming. This is because planes emit a significant amount of greenhouse gases when taking off and landing. “From the moment our North American customers land in Europe, they have the opportunity to significantly reduce their number of domestic flights, and any reduction in these flights is a step in the right direction.” She gives the example of France, which, in May 2023, banned short flights on its territory for which there is a rail option lasting less than two and a half hours. Spain could follow suit soon.
According to Cat Jones, tourists are more concerned than ever about the environmental impact of their travel. “This mindset is starting to become more common, but it can be difficult for many to know where to start. That’s where Byway comes in: we’re making it easier to create overland trips in a context where local transportation is fragmented.” How? Through flightless trip planning technology that creates custom itineraries in minutes that can be downloaded online. “It’s this technology that allows us to partner with other providers, such as Intrepid Travel, Exodus Travels and Kuoni, to demonstrate that traveling by train is a much better experience,” says the entrepreneur.
On the rails, the discovery
Each of Byway’s proposals is accompanied by a table comparing its greenhouse gas emissions to those that would result from the same route taken by plane and car. The agency, which takes customers to around twenty European countries and as far as Morocco, was able to calculate that between April 2023 and March 2024, its 3,390 customers had saved 758 tonnes of CO emissions.2.
Banning the plane from your vacation plans means ruling out very far-flung destinations, but according to the woman who has never owned a car in her life, it also makes other destinations accessible. Instead of taking off and landing in one place and staying there, you take the train and make several stops along the way. “I don’t feel like it limits travelers,” she says. “The journey becomes part of the adventure, and since train stations are located in the heart of cities, unlike airports, travelers get more out of their stopovers.”
On the other hand, traveling by train rather than by plane means having more time at your disposal. Some of Byway’s customers, fans of the slow travelenjoy the multiple stops along the way that allow them to explore a region. “These slow itineraries include sleeper trains or overnight ferries. During the day, they travel through beautiful landscapes to destinations such as Finland, and overnight stays include Germany, Sweden and Denmark, or Morocco, reached after trips to France and Spain,” says Cat Jones. Others of her clients are specifically looking to reduce their carbon footprint. “They’ll have a great trip, they’ll spread the word about Byway, and that’s how plane-free travel can become commonplace.”
More local experiences
This is a noble goal, although not all trains are equal. Some are still very polluting, and that’s without taking into account that, on a given line, a low occupancy factor can make it better to take the plane! “Ah, but we rarely use old trains and locomotives,” assures the entrepreneur. This can happen for certain specific routes, like the steam train The Jacobite, in Scotland, and only at the request of customers. In these cases, we calculate the carbon footprint for these trains.”
By choosing local trains over tourist ones, which often have larger carriages, Byway helps reduce their riders’ carbon footprint. In Switzerland, for example, its customers don’t take the Bernina Express, but rather the regional options. Passengers then enjoy the same spectacular views as if they were on the famous train. As a bonus, they have the option of getting off at the small towns along the Rhaetian Railway, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
It’s a fact that everyone is for virtue as long as it doesn’t drain their wallet too much… But rail travel can be more expensive than air travel. “That’s true, but when you factor in the cost of transfers to the airport and to the city centre, and the baggage check-in fee, it evens out. And you get more bang for your buck overland because you get more experiences,” says Cat Jones.
One thing is certain: the company is viable. Since its founding four years ago, its growth rate has tripled year after year, the entrepreneur estimates. “And we have no intention of stopping – at least not until non-flight vacations become widespread.”
This content was produced by the Special Publications Team of Dutyrelevant to marketing. The writing of the Duty did not take part in it.