Sustainability & impact

Our vision

At Byway, our vision is for a world in which flight-free holidays are the norm, and a vibrant sustainable travel ecosystem flourishes away from the beaten path.

Our mission is to make flight-free holidays mainstream, and so accelerate the world's transition to sustainable travel. We’re doing this by helping people to discover slow travel and love the journey, not just a destination. 

Why flight free?

Emissions from flying stand to triple by 2050 if demand for air travel continues to grow.

Travel by boat, train, bus, bike or on foot.

We’ve worked hard to build adventures that don’t rely on flights, and we stand by the principle that travelling through the world is better than flying over it.

Rail travel accounts for just 14g of CO2 per passenger mile, dwarfed by the 285g generated by air travel (Energy Saving Trust, 2018). You could get the train from London to Edinburgh and back five times and your carbon footprint would still be lower than if you flew there.

Byway is a B Corporation

We're committed to using our business and product as a force for good in the world, and as a certified B Corporation we join the likes of Patagonia and over 2,700 other companies across the globe who stand behind their greater purpose.

By supporting us as a B Corp, you are saying ‘yes’ to sustainable travel, socially responsible tourism and supporting local economies, and you’re casting your vote for the kind of travel we need for a cleaner, fairer and more equitable world. Thank you.

  • A world in which flight-free holidays are the norm, and a vibrant sustainable travel ecosystem flourishes away from the beaten path.

  • 1. Reduce the climate impact of travel by making flight-free holidays mainstream

    2. Boost local economies and facilitate environmental recovery by drawing tourists away from hubs suffering overtourism to the wonderful places in between

    3. Increase the proportion of tourist spend on sustainable products and services by prioritising partnerships with sustainable businesses

  • 1. Love the journey: Making slow travel mainstream is a journey we approach with the optimism and openness needed to learn and grow.

    2. Trust and be trusted: Trust in each other is the foundation of our team. We share insights widely and are grounded in openness.

    3. Mainstream means everyone: We listen to, respect, amplify and support all stakeholders.

At Byway, our mission is to make flight-free travel mainstream, and so accelerate the world's transition to sustainable travel. We’re a certified B Corp, and we make it easy for our customers to discover the joys of multi-stop overland travel, helping them love the journey, not just a destination. We also partner with historically flight-centric travel brands to help them do the same.

Impact report 2022/2023

Welcome from our founder

Welcome to our third annual Impact Report, which highlights the strides we’ve made towards our mission to bring the joy and magic of slow travel to the mainstream between April 2022 and March 2023. It’s a year in which we’ve booked over a thousand flight-free holidays and in doing so, saved ten times more carbon than we did the previous year - growing our impact from a small wood of trees to a whole forest! We’ve expanded our network of partners and places, and helped over two thousand people create unforgettable holiday memories while supporting local businesses and infrastructure. With our customers’ love for their journeys at the heart of all we do, I’m especially proud of our 98% five-star reviews. 

Enormous thanks to our team, partners, experts, customers, advocates and investors. Your belief in and enthusiasm for what we are building is why we’re making the waves we’re making. Thank you for your energy and support as we step things up!

Cat Jones, founder and CEO

 540

Flight-free Byway trips run

 1085

Passengers

 170

tonnes of CO2 saved
(that’s 1021 trees!)

 86%

Of accommodation costs went to locally-owned businesses

22

New regions

 98%