Cat Jones set up Byway Travel during the pandemic, initially offering UK itineraries by train. Speaking at Abta Travel Trends, she said she was happy to help other operators offer flight-free options.

“We are on a mission to make slow travel mainstream. That is not just us doing it, it is everybody in travel thinking about adding slow travel product. I’m really interested to talk about that.”

Jones said the pandemic had brought “just that little bit more awareness that personal decisions can have an impact”.

“There is increasing attention on flight-free travel,” she said, adding that a London-Mediterranean round trip by air would not be offset by spending a whole year on a vegan diet.

“Our mission is not specifically about flight-free travel, it’s about slow travel. Our mission is to make this kind of travel mainstream; it’s about loving the journey.”

She said 85% of Byway trips had three or more stops.

“Most of our trips for the first year were UK, but now we’re seeing a lot more in Europe and we’ve hardly had any UK bookings in the last couple of months.”

She said clients were initially “coming to us because they could not fly”.

“Now they’re booking their second and third trips. They’re not doing it because they ought to.”