Kalevala ski tour, Finland

Planet

Skiing is an eco-friendly way of travelling from place to place. The carbon dioxide emission arising from passenger and service transport for each client during the skiing tour is four kilograms per day. For comparison, this amounts to what is caused by a thirty-kilometre tour in a normal passenger car.

We minimise the volume of waste by avoiding the use of unnecessary packaging material. Disposable plates and cups are not used. During the tour, all paper and cardboard packaging waste is burned. Easily decomposing garbage, such as coffee grounds and used tea bags, are composted or disposed of by means of "distributed composting". All other waste is carried back from the tour or trip. Back at the base, the waste is classified and recycled.

A well-balanced connection with nature is the foundation of all our operations. Thus considering the environment constitutes an essential part of our business philosophy and is also of utmost importance to the success of the whole operation. The basic business idea of our company is to offer the tourist a range of products which are in concordance with Finnish nature. The products are specially designed to fuse into a harmonious whole with nature, special attention being paid to the immediate environment in which the activities take place.

We encourage our clients to show consideration for the environment: the visitors are offered a chance to take part in activities contributing to sustainable development. The adequacy of environmental activities is regularly assessed by means of collecting customer feedback.

In 2022 we were working in Travelife program and reached Travelife Partner status in. November. The award recognizes our efforts regarding sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility. To receive Travelife Partner level we had to comply with more than 100 criteria, related to office management, product range, international business partners and customer information.

People

On this trip you will visit the local companies and will enjoy their services. For example on day 4 you will arrive to Arola where you will be welcomed by the Seppänen family who is running this authentic place. You can listen their stories from the war time and how they changed the farming into small tourism business. Helena´s cooking is based on local ingredients: fish from the lake, elk from the forest, vegetables from the garden, berries from the forest. It brings the local food culture live.. Travellers bring valuable income which enables the family in three generations to live their lives in this remote area.

Our company does not own any hotel, restaurant or buses for transportation. We buy all these services from the local operators. Also the guides of our tours are locals for as much as possible. So the money which we get from the clients goes 70% for the local companies in the area and the guides.

In our purchases, we are committed to preferring durable, locally produced, high-quality products. Disposable products are avoided as far as possible. Ecologically sound products are acquired whenever possible.