Park Guides and partners of nature tourism
Creating a network of qualified national park guides was one of the target outcomes of the 2013 EU-funded National Park Village to Village project. Interested entrepreneurs from around the park were invited to commit both time and money towards the project and, in return, they could undergo a series of training courses held throughout the year in various locations around the park.
Training subjects included the flora and fauna of the park, birdlife, meteorological and other ongoing data collection processes, park rules and regulations, the geology and geomorphology of the park, prehistoric places of residence around Pallasjärvi, the Sami as a people, forestry around the park, Jerisjärvi cultural revolution, mountain safety, the geology of Ylläs, sustainable tourism, history of deer hunting, the history of Äköslompolo and the genesis of the fells, the tourism cooperation and development forum in conjunction with sustainable tourism INTERREG project with Särkijärvi, special features of the volcano park, nature-bound tourism, air quality study.
A final exam ensured that those who had attended had actually absorbed the information and successful candidates became offical National Park guides and in the process the participating companies gained knowledge about sustainable nature tourism.
Both Anna and Pasi participated in this program and are qualified National Park guides. A film about the park, the guiding services around it, and the 'Lapland Classic' hiking event (a guided 97km fully catered hiking route through the park from Yllas to Rauhala or Hetta to Yllas in which bags are transported for hikers between overnight camps over a period of 6 days at the end of August).