TL;DR: Yes — fly-and-flop is fading. Travellers are trading beach-resort inertia for slower, rail-first journeys, and the market data shows this is a structural shift, not a post-pandemic blip.
The classic fly-and-flop — one long-haul flight, one resort, one sunburn — is losing ground to a travel style built on trains, smaller distances and longer stays. Booking platforms report that rail-inclusive itineraries grew roughly three times faster than fly-and-stay packages in 2024, while average trip length for European travellers rose from 7.4 to 9.1 nights. The numbers tell a clear story: people want fewer flights and richer journeys.
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Why rail is winning
Night trains are the breakout product. New routes such as Vienna–Paris and Berlin–Stockholm sold out through peak season, and operators have ordered hundreds of new sleeper carriages for delivery by 2030. For travellers, the appeal is practical: city-centre to city-centre, no baggage queues, and a bed instead of a departure lounge. For destinations, it spreads tourist spending beyond a single coastal strip.
“Travellers have stopped treating transport as dead time,” says Dr Elena Marsh, a sustainable tourism researcher at a European transport institute. “A train journey is now part of the holiday, not a cost to be minimised. That changes what people book, where they stop and how much they spend locally.”
Market signals
Industry surveys suggest over 60% of European travellers under 40 now consider rail a deciding factor when choosing a destination. Corporate travel is following: several multinationals have tightened short-haul flight policies, pushing staff onto trains for journeys under six hours. Rail pass sales, sleeper bookings and luggage-forwarding services are all climbing in tandem.
What comes next
Expect three developments. First, consolidation: rail, hotel and activity providers will bundle multi-country itineraries as single products. Second, pricing pressure as new operators enter the sleeper market. Third, regulation — several governments are debating short-haul flight restrictions where rail alternatives exist. Fly-and-flop won’t disappear, but it will become a niche choice rather than the default.
FAQ
Q: Is slow travel just a trend among younger travellers?
A: No. While under-40s drive much of the growth, families and retirees are adopting rail-first trips fastest for multi-city holidays and multi-generational travel.
Q: Does rail-first travel cost more?
A: Not necessarily. Sleeper fares often undercut equivalent flights plus hotel nights, and slower itineraries reduce internal transfer costs — though premium cabins and last-minute bookings can be expensive.
Q: Will airlines lose out?
A: Mainly on short-haul routes with good rail links. Long-haul flying remains essential, and many carriers are already repositioning around feeder traffic and premium leisure demand.
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