Pallastunturi hotel project upsets environmental organisations

The Pallas ski centre, located in the Pallas-Yllästunturi National Park in Finnish Lapland, is about to experience the largest change in its entire history, if a planned hotel project is allowed to go through.
     
The Ministry of the Environment is already preparing an amendment to the legislation on the Pallas-Yllästunturi National Park, which would allow the construction of a new hotel with restaurants to replace the present Pallas Hotel, which dates back to the 1930s.
      ”This is a demanding task. There are many details that have to be taken care of properly in order to protect the surrounding environment”, reports Pekka Salminen from the Ministry of the Environment.
      The Finnish Association for Nature Conservation is adamantly opposed to the project, saying that it does not want the venture to present a precedent that would encourage similar encroachments on other national parks.
      ”National parks are established in order to protect nature, while they are also impressive natural sights as well as recreation areas. One has to think over whether or not such construction projects could put the initial purpose of the natural park in danger. After all, it cannot be possible that such areas with valuable ecosystems would serve the interests of an individual entrepreneur”, argued Ilpo Kuronen from the Finnish Association for Nature Conservation.
      The Ministry’s proposal has been circulated for comments until today - Wednesday. The government is supposed to bring a bill before Parliament in the course of the current spring.
     
The current plan would grant the hotel additional construction rights including 15,000 ground-level square metres and another 4,500 square metres for underground premises. The floor area would be eight times larger than that in the present Pallas Hotel.
      The company behind the project is Lapland Hotels, and its managing director carries the epithet ”hotel emperor”. The group runs a chain of nine hotels.
      The municipality of Muonio is in favour of the project.
      In fact, Pallas has long had pressure for additional building. The issue was brought forward in the 1990s for the first time. Now the project is said to have been boosted by the country’s Centre Party-driven government, which is favouring regional policy.
     
The National Park has always gone hand in hand with the local accommodation services. The first hotel was inaugurated in 1938, three weeks after the Pallas-Ounastunturi National park had been established.
      Later on the Pallas-Ounastunturi National Park and Ylläs-Aakenus Nature Reserve were combined to create Pallas-Yllästunturi.
      ”We do not side against the hotel in itself, provided that its recreational use is in harmony with nature. What if the hotel will want to multiply its capacity again in ten years?” Kuronen contemplates.
      According to Ilpo Kuronen, the region has already now had problems with water protection, as purified water has been carried off to a marsh that has started becoming eutrophic.
     
Kuronen notes further that the Pallastunturi Fell with its 300,000 annual visitors is the liveliest natural park in Finland.
      ”The present small hotel has never been an obstacle to increasing tourism. One should think that a new better hotel could be placed outside the national park, maybe even in the municipality of Muonio itself."
      Based on the number of registered overnights, the largest fell resorts in Finnish Lapland are Levi in the municipality of Kittilä and Ylläs in Kolari, while the third largest is Saariselkä in the municipality of Inari.
      The information is based on the figures released by Statistics Finland.
     
Tourism is an extremely important livelihood in Lapland, and one with pretty much guaranteed growth prospects.
      The topographical conditions at Pallastunturi - one of the higher Lapland fells - are quite as good for downhill skiers as at Levi or Ylläs (the highest resort in terms of vertical drop). Nevertheless, hitherto the national park location has kept infrastructure to a minimum, and for all the 340 metres of drop, the area is used more by dedicated cross-country skiers and by hikers in the summer.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Finland´s oldest national park evokes visions of wizards and gnomes (22.8.2006)
  More and more people hiking in the Lapland wilds (19.4.2006)

Links:
  Levi
  Ylläs
  Pallas-Yllästunturi National Park
  The Finnish Association for Nature Conservation