Alaska tour company wins prestigious Conde Nast award
By MELISSA DEVAUGHNAnchorage Daily News
Published: November 6, 2005 Last Modified: November 6, 2005 at 04:10 AM
GIRDWOOD -- When Kirk Hoessle of Alaska Wildland Adventures discovered his company had been chosen as the highest-ranking outdoor tour operator in the world by a high-end glossy travel magazine this fall, he thought, "Wow. That's cool."
Then he got back to work.
Others aren't quite so nonchalant. They say that Wildland Adventures' winning Conde Nast's 11th annual Green Award as ecotourism guide of the year says a lot about changes happening in Alaska's outdoor-travel industry.
Today, people want more out of their vacations, local experts say. Alaska's greatest asset remains its outdoors splendor, but it's no longer enough to load throngs of people aboard a bus for a sightseeing drive.
Outdoor tourism is changing.
People aren't as driven to go combat fishing for that big king salmon if they can find some solitude -- even if it means a smaller fish. And they no longer just want to see a bear and take a photo. Now, they're interested in the animal's habitat, its routines, its physiological makeup.
"Ecotourism is definitely on the upswing nationally and internationally," said Wendy Sailors, executive director of Alaska Wilderness Recreation and Tourism Association. "You'll see it called nature-based tourism, too.
"But another thing that is happening is a rise in educational and cultural tourism. People want a return for their money."
Hoessle has been a leader among Alaska tourism operators moving in this direction. Even the grounds around his Cooper Landing lodge have been transformed into something of a self-guided nature walk. As guests follow boardwalks and trails through the woods and along the Kenai River, there are signs to identify trees and shrubs, explaining their roles in the local ecosystem.
A non-native evergreen tree is even identified as a species transplanted by an earlier owner of the property and scheduled to be removed before it can reproduce and become what biologists call an "invasive species.''
Out on the river, Hoessle puts seasonal employees schooled as amateur naturalists and historians behind the oars of his company's sightseeing float trips on rafts down the Kenai. From the time the rafts leave Cooper Landing until they pull out at Jim's Landing or Skilak Lake, the oarsmen seldom stop talking about the bald eagles that perch in the trees, the three species of salmon that dominate the returns to the river, the bears that sometimes come out along the shores, the first people who arrived in the area thousands of years ago.
Hoessle said at first, he did not appreciate the implications of receiving the Conde Nast Green Award for operating in this fashion. He's not a good self-promoter, he said, and the way his employees run his company is based simply on a long-held belief in environmental responsibility, not the prospect of getting noticed.
"When my ex-business-partner (Jim Wells) and I started this company, we made a commitment to give back some of what we made to the environment that we were using," Hoessle said "We figured Patagonia gives away 10 percent of its profits and still offers quality products, so why couldn't we?"
Hoessle and his staff has grown over the years to 85 people in the summer. As they continued their operations guided by this core belief, they gained the attention of vacation-seekers who recognized their efforts.
For Alaska Wildland Adventures, the company's strong point is environmental responsibility -- they use cloth products and real plates rather than paper, they compost the leftover food at their Kenai Wilderness Lodge, they recycle everything from plastics to glass, despite the added effort of getting it to the proper recycling facilities.
For other outdoor-oriented companies, that commitment might be cultural or educational or spiritual. The opportunities are endless, noted Sailors.
"People go on vacation because they want to have a great time, but they end up getting an education with us, too," Hoessle said. "They see the recycling, the composting, and they absorb it without it being preached in their face. We lure them in with the activities but blow them away with the other aspects of how we operate.
"It's the best form of environmental education."
John Kreilkamp, vice president of Alaska Land Operations at Cruise West, the company founded by tourism pioneer Chuck West, said his company is committed to educational outdoor adventures that teach guests about the cultural diversity in Alaska. Unlike the large cruise-ship companies, Cruise West travels to small villages.
"We're going into 24 small communities statewide from Diomede to Metlakatla and Hyder, the Pribilofs and Savoonga, for instance," Kreilkamp said. "We even go into the Russian Far East, and Diomede looks uptown compared to some of these places."
Kreilkamp said if his company had one focus, or core belief, it would be cultural education.
"That's what so many of our guests who are well-traveled are into these days," Kreilkamp said. "They are not there for the glitz, glam and gambling; they're there for more learning, adventure, cultural, history environment."
For instance, Kreilkamp said Cruise West evening programs have nothing to do with dressing up and dancing. Rather, they usually include on-board guest speakers and outdoors veterans. Former Alaska Gov. Jay Hammond was one such regular. Pioneer adventurer Dick Griffith is another.
"Now that man can captivate an audience," Kreilkamp said of Griffith. "The people couldn't believe his stories."
Sailors, of Alaska Wilderness Recreation and Tourism Association, said this kind of interaction -- in which travelers can appreciate a truer-to-real-life depiction of Alaska -- is the best thing that can happen for the outdoors. The general public does not often connect the value of responsible tourism with public policy that can change the very wild lands that people seek out, she said.
Sailors uses the proposed Pebble Mine project as an example. If copper, molybdenum and gold mining begins in the Iliamna Lake region and fish populations are harmed, as some fishermen fear, how will people there make a living? What can they do to continue offering quality outdoor experiences while still living where they were born and raised?
"We're trying to guide Alaska tourism so that people realize we have options that are sustainable and a sure thing," Sailors said.
Sailors said AWRTA and other travel organizations such as Alaska Travel Industry Association are encouraging Alaskans to promote their version of the outdoors through educational and cultural programs.
Ever since Conde Nast published its four-page spread on environmentally responsible ecotourism, Hoessle said he has better appreciated what his company has done almost as second nature the past 20 years. His company garnered only one small paragraph as a sidebar to the main story on the best resort in the world, but the judging process was exhaustive, he said.
First they had to be invited to apply -- how they were nominated, Hoessle said he still does not know. Alaska Wildland's final score in the rating process was 75, which combined averages for guest satisfaction, nature preservation and local contributions to the communities in which they do business. Journeys International in Peru came in second, followed by Guerba World Travel, which leads treks in Africa, Latin America and Asia, among other places.
"There were a lot of follow-up questions," Hoessle said. "From all accounts, they really did their homework."
While national and international tour operators who offer Alaska trips among their menu of destinations have been recipients of the award, this is the first time a locally owned and Alaska-based company has made the cut, said Brooke Wilkinson, executive assistant editor at Conde Nast Traveler. It's a prestigious group to be a part of, she added.
In today's tightening market, where outdoor tour operators are competing with more and more companies for clients, the award could be a boon, Hoessle said.
"It's one of those things where it might help people make their decision," Hoessle said. "If they're comparing Company A and our company, this might be enough to make them want to go with us."
Sailors said Alaska Wildland's award is good for Alaska outdoor tourism as a whole. Hopefully it sends a message that people can have an enjoyable vacation without feeling preached upon, she said.
"One thing that the conservation community as a whole is looking at is that stigma that goes with the term 'conservation' -- that extreme tree-hugger connotation," Sailors said.
"We're trying to get the public in general to see it more as 'responsible tourism,' not ecotourism. Responsible tourism to me means you're being careful about what you're using so the resource is there 100 years from now, not just 10 years from now."
Melissa DeVaughn is a Daily News reporter. She can be reached at mdevaughn@adn.com.
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