The popularity of electric snowmobile safaris has grown already during the first winter

Press release | Tue Feb 20 15:53:00 2024

– eco-friendly snowmobiles help build the future of snowmobile safaris.

This winter, customers of the largest experience service company in the Nordic countries, Lapland Safaris, have been able to experience the nature of Lapland on zero-emission and almost silent electric snowmobiles. The electric snowmobile safaris began at the beginning of January, and demand for them has been growing during the first couple of months of operation. Customers have given Lapland Safaris positive feedback on, for example, how comfortable electric snowmobiles are to ride and the opportunity to experience the northern nature in a new way.

photo by: Lapland Hotels & Safaris

Lapland Safaris is among the first to offer electric snowmobile safaris in Rovaniemi and Luosto. Both destinations have a total of 20 snowmobiles available. It has been possible to book electric snowmobile safaris since September 2023, and demand has been high from the start.

“International tour operators and customers from around the world have been interested in electric snowmobile safaris. They have attracted the most interest from Swiss, Dutch and French customers, and, in general, from Central European customers. Customers have been surprised by how easy the electric snowmobiles are to ride. Many feel that the electric snowmobile is lighter and easier to handle when compared to a traditional combustion engine snowmobile,” says Juha Kultima, the Area Manager for Luosto.

An eco-friendly way to experience the protected nature of the north

A fully charged snowmobile can run for about 50 kilometres. The maximum speed of snowmobiles used by customers has been set to 40 km/h. Electric snowmobile safaris have been organised daily, and even this winter’s very cold temperatures have not caused any problems with the electric snowmobiles.

“In January, the coldest temperature was -35°C, and even then the snowmobiles ran without issues. We have received a lot of positive feedback from our customers on how electric snowmobiles give them new opportunities to experience Lapland. Our customers have been very interested in the environmental perspective. The almost silent snowmobiles guarantee that customers can better experience Lapland’s tranquillity and sounds. We hope that, in the future, we can use electric snowmobiles to take our customers to areas and nature in Lapland that we were not able to access before,” Kultima says.

Lapland Safaris’ programme includes fully electric snowmobile safaris, such as kota tours and northern lights tours, but customers will also have the opportunity to switch from a four-stroke engine snowmobile to an electric snowmobile in some of the other tours.

“Electric snowmobiles will significantly alter the snowmobile safari market. I believe that, at some point in the future, electric snowmobiles will fully replace combustion engine snowmobiles. At Lapland Safaris, we take care of the environment and strive to achieve a balanced relationship with northern nature by protecting it. We are continuously developing new eco-friendly ways of doing things, and our electric snowmobiles are a significant investment in sustainability. For our safaris with combustion engine snowmobiles, we use the most low-emission four-stroke engine snowmobiles on the market,” Kultima says.

The electric snowmobiles used by Lapland Safaris are provided by Uncharted Society, backed by the world’s biggest recreational product manufacturer, a Canadian company called Bombardier Recreational Products (BRP).

Learn more about Lapland Safaris’ electric snowmobile adventures: https://www.laplandsafaris.com/en/activities-in-lapland/electric-snowmobile-adventures

For further information and interview requests, please contact: Juha Kultima, Area Manager, Lapland Safaris, Luosto, tel. +358 400 583 71, juha.kultima@laplandsafaris.fi

Travel enterprise Lapland Hotels & Safaris offers Northern experiences for all senses. It consists of Finland’s largest private hotel chain, Lapland Hotels, the largest experience service company in the Nordic countries, Lapland Safaris Group Oy, and Lapland Ski Resorts. The group has approximately 1,950 employees in total.

Lapland Hotels has 20 hotels, more than 2,400 rooms and apartments as well as over 10,000 restaurant seats around Finland in Ylläs, Levi, Saariselkä, Rovaniemi, Olos, Luosto, Kilpisjärvi, Pallas and Hetta, as well as Helsinki, Tampere, Oulu, Kuopio and Porvoo.

Lapland Safaris offers unique outdoor activities in five destinations in Lapland: Rovaniemi, Ylläs, Saariselkä, Levi and Luosto.

Lapland Ski Resorts comprises five ski centres located in Ylläs, Luosto, Olos, Pallas and Rovaniemi. www.laplandhotels.com/en/, www.laplandsafaris.com/en/