Responsible travel isn’t just about the environment, it’s also about the communities we visit and the local, regional and national economies within the host country. These are the three areas where we aim to make a genuine contribution.
We look after the people who look after you Our philosophy is that fair trade is a worldwide principal and applies
wherever we work. Regardless of whether our suppliers are in Finnish Lapland or Svalbard, we see absolutely no point in pushing them down to barely sustainable margins.

Quite simply, we believe that paying a fair price to a local supplier is the greatest contribution we can make in any host community. Finnish Lapland is an excellent example.

Traditional industries such as forestry and fisheries were the mainstay of the Lappish economy until extensive mechanisation replaced human labour with machines. Nowadays, it is the well managed tourism industry that sustains the economy, which we are happy to contribute to.

The very nature of our holidays means that we work in rural areas where employment opportunities are limited.
Very often tourism has taken over as a key economic contributor and by using local providers rather than large chains, we keep the money within the local economy wherever we can.

Consequently, wherever possible, we use local transport, accommodation and activity providers, the aim being to distribute
the financial benefits throughout the local economies.

It goes without saying that we wish to maintain the natural settings in which our holidays are based, not just for the future of our company, but also for future generations.

Hence, we insist that our partners are equally conscious of this need. We ensure that all litter is removed from any of our activity sites.

Where it is possible, we also operate group transfers to reduce the volume of road traffic (please see note about snowmobiles opposite).

We are very proud to work with suppliers who pay such regard to their environment.
In addition, we also strive to make our clients aware of their obligation to respect the environment and communities they
are visiting. It is a shared responsibility for everyone involved.

We must be doing something right because in 2008 our sister company Activities Abroad won the Silver Award for Most Environmentally Responsible Small Tour Operator at the British Travel Awards. We are continually striving to improve our policy and take guidance from organisations such as Responsible Travel and Tourism Concern on best practice.

Tourism has an immense impact on local communities. This is especially the case in the remote rural areas in which we work.

We want our clients to have a wonderful time and receive a warm welcome, whilst at the same time ensuring that they have meaningful encounters with the local people. We want to have a positive effect on the local communities without having any negative impact on the local cultures and traditions.

We work with local suppliers as they know the terrain better than anybody, which is particularly valuable in more remote areas.

Of equal importance, is that by doing this, we also help to sustain local employment.

The Lappish culture is truly unique and we try and incorporate the opportunity for clients to learn about the traditions from the local people. We are lucky enough to class many of our suppliers as friends and many of our guests come home with similar relationships.

We also encourage our clients to respect the lives of the local people by learning just a few important words such as hello, goodbye, please and thank you.

It takes very little effort to master a tiny vocabulary but watch for the smile of gratitude when you say “kiitos” instead of “thank you” to a Finn. It’s more than worth the effort.

Back here in the UK we try to employ the same approach. We purposefully chose our Northumbrian base in order to provide employment opportunities in a rural area where economic diversity is at the heart of rural development strategies.

A common remark from our clients is that snowmobiles don’t appear to be the most environmentally sound means of getting around.

Yes they are noisy and yes they omit emissions, but what petrol driven vehicle wouldn’t in sub zero temperatures? The fact of the matter is that snowmobiles are vital to the local economy.

Here’s what one of our guides in Finland has to say on the matter: “We have to feed and care for the huskies all year. We have to feed and care for the reindeer all year. We have to feed and care for the snowmobiles for five months of the year.
Snowmobiles are how we make our living, there’s littlemoney in huskies and reindeer. Without the snowmobiles there wouldn’t be a tourist industry, without snowmobiles, we wouldn’t have jobs.” And what’s the alternative? In Scandinavia people do their shopping using snowmobiles, they take their kids to school using snowmobiles.

It’s less polluting and more fuel efficient than the gas guzzlers they would otherwise need in their snowy terrain.
And, they are not just a means of getting around. A whole industry has grown up around snowmobiles, from manufacturers to retailers to mechanics; they are an integral part of the local economy and the local tourism industry.