Making low-carbon international travel mainstream

Overland Heaven is a Forum for the Future initiative to make low-carbon, overland travel between the UK and Europe mainstream, opening up a distinctive new market.

We face a future of dwindling oil supplies and pressure to reduce carbon, which will make fossil fuels increasingly expensive. If tourism is to thrive, we will have to re-examine our approach to travel, and smooth the way to a more sustainable alternative.

Tourism needs to free itself from the massive fuel and carbon costs of jet flight, and is missing a major opportunity to do so. Europe is criss-crossed with high-speed, low-carbon rail and coach links, which offer a practical and exciting overland alternative to flying, and the Channel Tunnel puts it all on our doorstep.

So why are 77% of UK trips to Europe still taken by air, swelling the queues at immigration, taking up expensive take-off slots and with up to 20 times as much climate impact as overland alternatives?

Our research has shown that the overland option is barely on the radar for most travellers. Eurostar may be the natural choice for trips to Paris and Brussels, but many customers expect a rail or coach trip to Spain or Switzerland to take days. They don’t know where to go for easy booking, and expect prices to be high. So without action, flying will remain the default, high-carbon option, and one with increasing risks and constraints for the tourism industry.

The Overland Alliance

Action at every level in the industry will be required to tackle the barriers holding back the development of overland travel, and make the most of the opportunities. For example we will need to make major steps forward in customer awareness, information, booking and service delivery, and learn from the successes of mass flight operators in these areas.

Overland tourism holds the potential for sustainable growth, but no one organisation is likely to be able to achieve this on its own. There is therefore a major opportunity for the right grouping of organisations to overcome the existing obstacles, reduce their oil and climate risks and develop a new market in low-carbon travel.

That’s why we are forming the Overland Alliance, bringing together representatives from key sectors of the industry. The Overland Partners will have the combined skills to make overland travel mainstream, and create and benefit from a new market, which is more sustainable in every sense.

The Overland Alliance is already supported by the Co-operative Travel and Eurostar. We are now holding discussions with other key travel industry organisations prior to formally launching the partnership. 

Further information

Read the summary findings from our Overland Heaven Scoping Report.

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Watch our film to see how an overland journey from London to Paris compares to flying...

Contact: Rupert Fausset

Image: Jenny T