Byway and Exodus expand cooperation for flight-free travel
Byway and Exodus Adventure Travels have expanded their cooperation, through which they aim to make it easier to organize adventure travel without aircraft, especially for travelers who want to reach tour departure points by train, ferry, or other land and sea transport. According to an announcement reported by TravelDailyNews on May 18, 2026, the previous relationship between the two companies is now moving into a two-way referral model. Byway will refer users to Exodus's small group tours, while at the same time remaining the main partner for planning overland arrivals to the starting points of Exodus's packages. According to the companies, the goal is to connect independent planning of slower travel with organized adventure programs and reduce obstacles for those who want to avoid flights on some European and more widely accessible routes.
The cooperation builds on the trend of stronger interest in train travel, especially among users from the United Kingdom, where Exodus collects part of the data on its clients' habits. According to data the companies published alongside the expansion of the partnership, 65 percent of Exodus's users from the United Kingdom are now more interested in traveling by train than they were five years ago. The same data show that 54 percent of respondents would replace a flight with a train journey of up to 24 hours, including night trains, while 29 percent of respondents have already traveled by train for a holiday abroad in the past two years. These figures do not mean that air transport has lost its dominant role in international tourism, but they indicate that part of the market is turning increasingly seriously toward practical alternatives, especially where good railway connections exist.
A two-way referral model
The previous cooperation between Byway and Exodus was focused primarily on ensuring that travelers on Exodus tours could reach the starting point of the trip without flying. According to Exodus's official page dedicated to train travel, Byway organizes personalized flight-free travel for packages that require at least one overnight stay during arrival or continuation of the journey. This includes route planning, combining trains, ferries, and accommodation, and adapting itineraries to travelers' wishes. In the new model, cooperation is also expanding in the opposite direction: when its users want an organized adventure tour, Byway will refer them to Exodus's small group programs.
Such a model may be significant for the market because flight-free travel often does not depend only on buying a single ticket, but on a series of connected decisions. The traveler must coordinate international rail links, transfers, overnight stays, ferries, local transport, and arrival time for the tour. With organized adventure trips, that challenge is even greater because the group's departure is usually tied to a specific date, time, and place. According to statements from the companies, the expanded cooperation should reduce this organizational complexity and offer a clearer connection between arriving at the destination and the travel program itself.
Paul Conroy, head of partnerships at Byway, said that the company's goal is to make flight-free travel more accessible to a wider range of users. According to his statement reported by TravelDailyNews, deepening the cooperation with Exodus into a reciprocal model should make it easier for travelers to combine small group adventures with connected overland travel. Kasia Morgan, head of sustainability at Exodus Adventure Travels, stated that the company's users are increasingly considering replacing flights with trains and that cooperation with Byway makes it easier to choose rail without giving up the expertise and structure of guided travel.
Why rail is at the center of the offer
Flight-free travel is not a new phenomenon, but in recent years it has gained a clearer market form. In Europe, it is supported by a dense rail network, the development of night trains, better availability of international tickets, and greater visibility of the climate impact of travel. On its official website, Exodus emphasizes that traveling by train can be part of the experience, not only a way of reaching the destination. Among examples of popular tours available by train, it lists programs in Italy, including the Dolomites, the Amalfi Coast, and the Prosecco and Venice region. In such packages, an aircraft is not necessarily the only practical option, especially for travelers for whom it is acceptable to extend the journey and include additional stops along the way.
According to the European Environment Agency, rail and waterborne transport have the lowest greenhouse gas emissions per kilometer traveled and unit transported among motorized forms of transport, while air and road transport produce significantly higher emissions on average. The agency emphasizes that not all forms of transport can simply be replaced in every situation because the choice is influenced by distance, geography, travel time, infrastructure, and the need for door-to-door transport. That is precisely why partnerships such as Byway and Exodus target journeys on which replacing a flight with a train is feasible, not every possible route.
Official data from the British Office of Rail and Road additionally show that railway use in Great Britain continues to recover and grow. According to the latest ORR statistical release published on March 19, 2026, in the period from October to December 2025, 466 million rail journeys were made in Great Britain, four percent more than in the same quarter of the previous year. In the same period, 16.7 billion passenger kilometers were recorded, three percent more than a year earlier. These data refer to domestic rail traffic in Great Britain, but they are important because they show that rail remains a relevant form of transport in the country from which a large share of the clients included in Exodus's survey comes.
Sustainable tourism between ambition and practical limitations
For several years, Exodus Adventure Travels has emphasized in its communication the reduction of the impact of travel on the environment and communities in destinations. On its official sustainability page, the company presents the "Thriving Nature, Thriving People" program, in which it highlights carbon and waste reduction, support for nature restoration, contributions to local communities, and the work of the Exodus Adventure Travels Foundation. Exodus also states a commitment to restoring 100 square meters of nature per traveler, which is part of a broader approach in which tourist travel is being linked with a measurable contribution to natural habitats and local communities.
Byway, on the other hand, positions itself as a specialized provider of slow and personalized flight-free travel. According to information available on Exodus's pages, Byway combines land and sea travel for such itineraries, often with locally guided accommodation options and the possibility of adapting the route. This is a different model from the classic sale of package arrangements, in which arrival at the destination is often separated from the content at the destination. The expanded partnership attempts to connect these two levels: the journey to the tour and the tour itself.
Still, the growth of flight-free travel does not remove practical challenges. A train can be more time-consuming, prices of international tickets often change, and transfers are not always simple for travelers who do not know the route. Night trains offer the advantage of combining transport and accommodation, but they depend on cabin availability, the season, and carriers' capacities. In addition, for distant destinations outside well-connected European corridors, the aircraft remains the dominant option. That is why the companies' message is more cautious than the claim that flight-free travel will replace air travel: it is an effort to make a feasible alternative simpler, more visible, and commercially available where such an alternative exists.
A broader market shift toward slower travel
Data published by Byway in its 2026 trends report, and reported by ITIJ, indicate a broadening of interest in overland travel. According to that report, bookings of Byway's flight-free trips increased by 80 percent compared with 2024, while family flight-free trips and off-season departures also recorded strong growth. The report particularly highlights trips in the shoulder seasons, when destinations are less burdened and weather conditions are often more suitable for active holidays. Such a trend may also be important for destinations because spreading visitors outside the peak season reduces pressure on infrastructure, local services, and the most visited locations.
At the same time, the tourism industry is trying to respond to two requirements that are sometimes difficult to reconcile. On the one hand, travelers want simplicity, security, and price clarity, especially when deciding on more complex international routes. On the other hand, there is increasing pressure for travel to be planned with fewer emissions and less negative impact on destinations. The model offered by Byway and Exodus attempts to combine these requirements so that travelers do not have to put together every part of the journey by themselves, while retaining the possibility of a slower and more flexible arrival.
An important element of this approach is also a change in the way travel is presented. In a classic air package, arrival is often only a technical phase that should be shortened. With travel by train or ferry, companies emphasize the scenery of the route, stops along the way, overnight stays in transit cities, and the feeling of gradual arrival at the destination. Such a narrative is not only a marketing addition, but also a way to turn the longer duration of the journey into part of the value of the package. For some travelers, precisely that may be decisive: if the journey takes longer, it must offer more than a mere substitute for a flight.
What the expansion means for travelers and the industry
For travelers considering organized tours, the expanded cooperation between Byway and Exodus may mean less fragmented planning. Instead of separately searching for a tour, international trains, overnight stays, and local connections, the user should receive a more connected offer in which the departure point, arrival, and program are better coordinated. This may be especially useful for hiking, cycling, cultural, and family packages in Europe, where arrival by rail is often possible but not always simple to organize independently. According to available information, Byway will continue to be responsible for overland itineraries, while Exodus remains focused on guided small group tours.
For the industry, the expansion of the partnership is a signal that flight-free travel is moving out of a niche intended exclusively for strongly environmentally motivated travelers. When such a model is linked with an established adventure travel operator, it becomes part of a wider offer, not only an alternative choice for a small number of users. This does not mean that every train journey will be cheaper, shorter, or simpler than a flight. However, it increases the likelihood that travelers will see such an option at the planning stage and be able to compare it with classic arrival by aircraft.
In the background of this cooperation is also a broader discussion about the future of tourism in Europe. The European Environment Agency emphasizes that shifting to more efficient forms of transport is important for the decarbonization of transport, but so is improving the efficiency of all existing systems. This means that the solution is not reduced to one type of transport, but to smarter combining of trains, ferries, buses, local transport, and, where there is no realistic alternative, aircraft. The partnership between Byway and Exodus fits precisely into that approach: it does not abolish the existing tourism model, but attempts to expand choice and reduce the complexity of flight-free travel.
The expanded cooperation therefore has greater significance than the business announcement of two companies alone. It shows how the tourism sector is adapting to travelers who want to keep the advantages of organized travel, while also looking for ways to reduce reliance on air transport. The success of such a model will depend on price, reliability of rail connections, availability of night trains, clarity of the booking process, and the organizers' ability to present a longer journey as part of the experience, not as an obstacle. According to currently available information, Byway and Exodus will try to develop that approach through a two-way referral system and the linking of overland routes with adventure tours.
Sources:
- TravelDailyNews – news about the expansion of the partnership between Byway and Exodus Adventure Travels and company data and statements (link)
- Exodus Adventure Travels – official page about train travel and cooperation with Byway (link)
- Exodus Adventure Travels – official information about the sustainability program "Thriving Nature, Thriving People" (link)
- European Environment Agency – analysis of emissions from different forms of transport in Europe (link)
- Office of Rail and Road – latest official data on railway use in Great Britain (link)
- ITIJ – report on Byway's flight-free travel trends for 2026 (link)