Meals & Lodging

Press Release Stockholm 8th March 2005

Grand Travel Awards Ecotourism Award 2005
goes to
The Silent Way

Catrine Anderback and Kenneth Gjemmestad and their dog sled company The Silent Way in Storuman, Västerbotten has received the 2005 Swedish Ecotourism award.
Once a year the Swedish Ecotourism Society and the travel magazine Travel News award a company that in an outstanding way, delivers and promotes Swedish ecotourism. In previous years the companies chosen have all been approved by the ecotourism quality label "Nature’s Best".

Reason for he award:
The Silent Way is one of the leading companies arranging dogsledding adventures in Sweden – and in the world. During the last ten years Catrine and Kenneth have created breathtaking dogsledding adventures in the pristine Nordic wilderness where mountains and forests are colored and dressed by the Nordic Light and the glittering snow. These hosts to the Free North are professionals in handling and caring for their dogs and thorough when it comes to safety and quality. As a guest you will be well cared for and will enjoy good locally prepared food.
The Silent Way is stationed in the municipality of Storuman. They live way off the beaten track but they are not off when it comes to marketing. They have shown how a small tour operator can use the Internet to market world wide. They have shared in an unselfish way this knowledge to other tour operators in Nature’s Best. Today 95 % of their tours are found and booked over the Internet. As a result a snow wonderland adventure in Mount Vindeln nature reserve with eager sled dogs is just a couple a clicks away – wherever you live. These tours in one of Europe’s largest nature reserves were labeled with Nature’s Best in 2003.
This guarantees that The Silent Way always will deliver in many senses of the word sustainable tours in unspoiled nature.

Background
The Silent Way is a family business and a Swedish/Norwegian joint venture. Catrine is Swedish and Kenneth Norwegian. Their business idea is to sell unforgettable dogsledding adventures in the Swedish mountains. Today, in the small village of Umnäs where they live, their products are sold all over the world. Guests have mainly come from England and Holland. But distant travellers from China and Ecuador have also tasted the thrills of the Silent Way. Guests from 15 countries have been pulled by the Silent Ways eager huskies.
The secret behind the success of The Silent Way is hard work. Hard work places the company high on Internet search engines. The Silent Way invests many hours to be at the top of the rankings and along the way they have picked up the necessary knowledge of how to operate the system. Hard work also make their tours unique. They also have a beautiful brochure. But in the end customer satisfaction is what makes the difference.
- We were surprised and happy to be awarded this award. To be a Travel award winner, when you are a small company far away from cities, proves that there is hope for tourism in sparsely populated regions, and it shows how important the Internet can be for us living out here. Because of the Internet jobs and export revenue are created. This is what we need badly in Northern Sweden. And, it is nice to know that our small village and our home is placed on the world map and is known around the world", says Catrine Anderback.

Grand Travel Awards Ecotourism award winners:
1998: Vildmark i Värmland, Torsby in Värmland Anders Wiss
1999: Lapplandssafari AB, Ammarnäs in Västerbotten, Ann-Kristine and Mikael Vinka
2000: Äventyrsresor, Stockholm, Tomas Bergenfeldt
2001: Naturresor Annelie Utter, Göteborg, Annelie Utter
2002: Rid i Jorm: Jormvattnet Jämtland, Ola Sundqvist
2003: Grövelsjöns Fjällstation STF, Dalarna, Barbara och Charlie Ekberg
2004: Vägvisaren – samiska upplevelser (Pathfinder), Lappland, Lennart Pittja

For more information:
Catrine Anderback & Kenneth Gjemmestad, The Silent Way
+ 46 (0) 951 520 43 or (0) 732 77 16 40
Staffan Widstrand, Ecotourism Society of Sweden
+ 46 (0) 8 583 518 31 or (0) 706 57 33 24

More background information:
Utemagasinet nr 8 2004. A Swedish magazine, in Swedish, that has an article about The Silent Way.

Free press photos:
Silent Way photos and other ecotourism pictures free for down loading in high resolution are available on www.naturesbest.nu . Look under Press room.

The Webb:
Direct link to The Silent Way on Natures Best home page:
www.naturensbasta.se/arrangorer/detalj.asp?id=301
The Nature’s Best home page:
www.naturesbest.nu