Lapland family activity holiday and ice hotel

Tourism in Swedish Lapland has become the main source of employment and income, replacing traditional industries such as forestry and mining. Working within this growth industry in rural and remote areas means that we must take a great deal of responsibility; socially, environmentally and economically. We fully appreciate the impact of tourist visits on local communities and their residents and strive to ensure that we are having a positive effect. We always encourage our clients to respect and embrace the lives and cultures of local inhabitants by learning a few important words: hello, goodbye, please, thank you etc.

We also include activities with a cultural base, such as visiting traditional Sámi reindeer herders and learning about the realities of their lives. In addition, we always encourage our clients to get involved in local events and activities which help to sustain traditional values and customs.

In all of our destinations we ensure that we use locally owned accommodation, transport and activity providers, enabling locally owned businesses and the economies in which they work to benefit directly. Through the tourism multiplier effect, this all helps to generate incomes and employment where the drift might otherwise be towards larger employment areas. With the loss of jobs from the increasingly mechanized Iron Ore mine that formed the basis for Kiruna’s previous growth, diversifying into tourism has been a lifeline to the local inhabitants and economy. In a small and remote town such as Kiruna further drops in employment would be devastating.

The use of locally owned businesses means that the tourism income, generated by our presence stays where it should, in the local economy and firmly believe in paying a fair price for all the services provided by our suppliers regardless of where they are in the world. Our accommodation is based at a Scandic hotel and whilst Scandic are a larger chain of hotels they provide vital employment throughout Lapland and have one of the most comprehensive environmental, social and economic responsibility policies of any hotel chain in the world. Our holidays rely on visiting beautiful and un-spoilt areas. Naturally we wish to maintain the natural settings in which we work, not just for the future of our company, but also for future generations. We always insist that our local providers are equally conscious of this need.

We do appreciate that some may feel that snowmobiles should not be included in such itineraries however in areas such as Kiruna they are a way of life. They are the only means of keeping in contact with remote communities as the road infrastructure is not extensive. The alternatives to snowmobiles would in most cases be large, gas-guzzling off road vehicles. All snowmobiles are regularly serviced and kept as fuel efficient as possible and our activity providers are using more efficient 4-stroke engines and all snowmobile trails are well managed. The snowmobile service industry is also another vital source of employment in these remote areas. We always ensure that all litter is removed from any of our activity sites, we strongly encourage group transfers to reduce traffic volumes and we make our clients aware of their obligation to the environment. We always offset our air travel emissions and would encourage you to do the same.