Cat Jones, chief executive of the flight-free travel company, said Gen Z travellers were emerging "as a powerful force shaping the future of travel" owing to their demand for low-carbon travel, authentic experiences and innovation.
Gen Z, or Zoomers, are those people born in the mid-to-late 1990s through to the early-2010s; according to Byway, while they consider travel more of a priority than millennials or Generation Alpha, they place a greater emphasis on travelling sustainably.
Citing data from Virtuoso, Byway said more than half of Gen Z travellers were prepared to pay more to travel with a company that offers more environmentally-friendly travel options.
The proportion of trips booked with Byway by Gen Z travellers versus other generations tripled between January and May 2023 compared with the preceding six-month period, while the total amount of Gen Z bookings with Byway has increased by 430% year-on-year.
Its new collection, tailored for Gen Z, offers travel by train, boat and bus, and features trips taking in Scandinavia, Sicily, the Iberian peninsula and the Istrian peninsula. Other options include a transcontinental train journey from Europe to Africa and a scenic route through Switzerland and northern Italy.
"Gen Z is emerging as a powerful force shaping the future of travel, shouting about the need for carbon reduction and pushing for authenticity and innovation," said Jones.
"To make flight-free travel mainstream, we need more people following Gen Z’s example in shouting about the need for sustainable travel to make flight free trips mainstream and reduce our carbon output.
"We’re building Byway with and for Gen Z (many of our team are Gen Z), and the future of the planet they’re exploring and inheriting."
