Our sustainable Tourism Policy
Alaska Travel Connections supports sustainable tourism.
We are fortunate to live in Alaska, a State of unparalleled natural beauty and a rich and diverse active, cultural heritage of its indigenous people. It is with great pleasure that we promote this unique place to our guests; travelers who come here to enjoy, experience, and discover.
We have a deep respect for the environment, its inhabitants, and our guests, therefore we fully support sustainable tourism.
We believe that tourism can be of low impact on the environment and local culture, while bringing economic growth to a region and resulting in a positive experience for locals and tourists alike.
We strive to provide our clients with an exciting and enriching vacation experience that aligns with the principles of sustainable tourism:
- Many of our hotels, lodges and B&B’s, as well as day tour providers are Alaskan owned and operated, so the local communities are directly supported,
- By choosing locally owned businesses our clients have an excellent opportunity to interact with locals, learn about the history and make connections,
- When planning a customized tour, we encourage our clients to experience the local indigenous culture through visiting cultural centers, attending performances, museum visits and shopping from local indigenous vendors,
- To support local communities, we encourage our clients to shop “Alaska Grown” and “Made in Alaska”,
- Our itineraries encourage our clients to explore Alaska “off the beaten path”, leaving a smaller ecological footprint,
- On our small group tours, we provide our clients with multi-use shopping bags and reusable dishes for picknicks, reduce trash and recycle,
- On trips, we provide reusable water bottles and actively encourage clients to use refilling stations,
- Our guides are not only driver/guides but also naturalists, narrators, historians, and interpreters. They introduce our guests to the unique and diverse history of Alaska and its indigenous cultures,
- We educate our clients on “Leave no Trace Behind” practices and policies,
- We hold permits to various State and National Parks and thus support the State and National Park system.
In our office we adhere to the following policies:
- We avoid unnecessary travel by allowing our staff to work from home,
- The use of paperless options for travel documents, price quotes, confirmation letters, and invoices saves valuable resources,
- The purchase of paper products made with recycled paper and recycling,
- Our staff donates personal time to partake in local trail building and city-wide clean-ups.