Finland hiking vacation

Environment

Our company has the environmental policy which we follow. The land where we walk is mostly owned by government. We have the cooperation agreement with Forest and Park Service of Finland and we follow their principles of sustainable tourism. We only use marked hiking trails and designed spots for the campfires. We are paying a compensation for each visitor to the Forest and Park Service, which is responsible for the nature conservation and hiking areas visited.

We carry all the waste with us, nothing is left in the forest. The participants are told to carry the waste back and they are advised the recycling rules at the lodges. Disposable products are avoided as far as possible.
On the picnic lunch the coffee is brewed by the open fire which is a very natural and traditional way to prepare coffee in the country which is full of wood. Coffee is served in wooden cups instead of disposable coffee cups. Plates are usually re-usable plastic plates. Cutlery is disposable but eg. tea spoons are wooden which is eco-friendlier choice as plastic ones. Tap water is drinkable throughout Finland and we recommend participants to bring re-fillable water bottles. Then there is no need to buy bottled water which on the other hand is not even available in all the lodges.

This is not mass tourism. All the accommodation places are small with limited number of beds available and during walks we seldom see other hikers. On these tours the maximum group size is 12 persons. The departures are international and we often have a great mixture of different nationalities. "The record" is 8 different nationalities in a group of 12 persons. The small group size gives the participants the possibility to get know each other pretty well and the good group spirit is one of the things people usually mention in the feed-back.
We also believe that the small group size minimizes the environmental impact.

Community

By participating in any of our trips you will bring much needed work and income to the people in the rural area where the job opportunities are not so many. On our tours all the money goes straight to the area. We have many partners and they are all small local companies.

The role of the tourism as an extra source of income is important for many people in this area. A good example is a small reindeer farm that we visit during the tour. Reindeer herding has become very difficult to keep mainly because of the predators killing so much wild roaming reindeers. The reindeer farm we visit, started a few years ago to offer services for tourists - meals, reindeer sleigh rides and reindeer souvenirs. They are now getting most of their income from the travelers who visit the farm and therefore are able to keep up the traditional reindeer herding culture in the area.