Family winter adventure in Finland

Planet

Muotka lies in the fells and forests of Finnish Lapland, surrounded by a pristine wilderness environment. It is a spectacular area popular with the Finns themselves as well as overseas guests. Protecting this landscape and its flora and fauna is something which the owners of the wilderness hotel here are acutely aware of.
Throughout the refurbishment and development of the hotel, limiting the impact on the environment has been a central concern. In most cases, construction of cabins etc has taken place off site and therefore the disruption locally has been minimised. The cabins have all been constructed from sustainable wood sources, and modern heating and energy efficient lighting have been installed throughout to minimise energy consumption.
The hotel tries to minimise all food waste, ensures that recycling is carried out where possible, and does not operate a daily room service unless requested, as this enables them to save valuable resources.
The food served in the restaurant is locally sourced where at all possible, which enables the hotel to limit their food miles, but also ensures that guests get to enjoy some local delicacies and dishes during their stay.
There is a strict leave no trace policy in place on all activities and all guests and guides adhere to this.
The snowshoes used in the snowshoe activity limited any erosion caused by footfalls and the dog sled safari is of course operated by mushers who have the highest welfare standards for their dogs.
During the vacation, guests will also have the chance to learn about the traditions of the local area and the indigenous people of Lapland with a visit to a reindeer farm.
This vacation includes two motorised activities, a snowmobile to a reindeer farm and a visit to an Aurora Camp via snowmobile pulled sleigh. To limit the number of machines used in snowmobile safaris, guests travel two people per snowmobile, and children will travel in a sleigh pulled by the guide’s snowmobile as this is the most efficient way.
All snowmobiles used during the safaris are expertly maintained and are cleaner 4 stroke engines. The snowmobiles follow only marked trails which are managed by the local authorities and these trails very much reduce the level of disturbance caused. Snowmobiles provide a vital form of transport in this region, and during these activities, they replace large 4 x 4 vehicles which may otherwise be required for transfers.
Transfers at Muotka are grouped where possible and in some cases make stops at other local hotels in order to save on transportation.


We encourage all our clients to respect and embrace the lives and culture of all Jeris’s local inhabitants by learning a few important words: hello, goodbye, please, thank you etc. We have also included activities with a cultural base. In addition, we always encourage our clients to get involved in local events and activities which help to sustain traditional values and customs.

We do appreciate that some may feel that snowmobiles should not be included in such itineraries however in areas such as Jeris they are a way of life. All trails are well managed. 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. The snowmobile service industry is also another vital source of employment in these remote areas.

By using local suppliers, we can ensure that they are they are committed to designing and operating our vacations in such a way to ensure we maximize the positive effects of tourism on the local economies, cultures and the environment whilst minimising any negative impacts.

People

Muotka started life as a cross country ski lodge, employing a handful of people and providing simple accommodation to ski enthusiasts mainly from Finland. Since our friends took over the property, they have managed to create a destination which offers guests and the local people something to be very excited about.
Muotka employs a significant number of people throughout the year, and their extended season provides employment from September through to April. The restaurant building is a popular stop for local people enjoying a day on the trails and it has really breathed life and investment into some infrastructure which otherwise would have provided very little local benefit.
The tourist spend at the lodge typically stays within the local economy, with local activity providers, reindeer herders, food suppliers and even furniture makers being utilised throughout the operations here.
This wider benefit from the wilderness hotel really makes a massive economic contribution to the area, and the fact that the lodge is in no way reliant on the Father Christmas crowds which can overtake some areas for the month of December, means that the contribution is less seasonal and much more sustainable. This helps to provide real career opportunities in the area and helps stem the flow of rural to urban migration.


Development from a period of extractive industry to an industrial society has come about quickly. In 1950 the largest part of Lapland’s inhabitants lived in rural areas and more than half the workforce worked in forestry and agriculture. Today 65 % of the workforce are in the service industry, 22 % in processing and 10 % in primary production.

This huge growth in tourism and service provision has been developed in conjunction with a long-term sustainable tourism plan with one of the primary objectives being to maintain nature in its natural state while guaranteeing the traditional way of life.

Much of this has been achieved along with membership of EU development programmes, aimed at diversifying sources of livelihood, effectively use or resources and increasing export.

Approximately a quarter of Lapland’s 100 000 strong workforce was unemployed in 1997. Promoting entrepreneurship, ongoing re-education of the workforce and development of the educational system to suit the needs of enterprises is continuing. The target is to diversify the sources of livelihood, increase the value of refinement production and develop new enterprises particularly in the area of tourism. National measures, as well as EU-programme measures, support this objective.

We embrace this philosophy, employing local activity providers and using only locally owned hotels. In this manner, we help to maintain jobs in an area where unemployment was, until recently, very high. Additionally, the use of local suppliers ensures that the tourism spend filters through to local economies via the tourism multiplier effect.