Megan of Kingmik Dogsled Tours, with her dogs, post run, in the Banff/Lake Louise region of Alberta, Canada. Photo courtesy of Landlopers

While traveling through the Banff/Lake Louise region, I was fortunate enough to experience some of the activities that make the area great. Hot springs, snow tubing and exploring nature were all highlights, but one of my favorite activities was dogsledding with Kingmik Dogsled Tours.

Megan is also the owner of Kingmik Dogsled Tours, a business she took over several years ago and has been growing ever since. I have to admit, I fell in love with Kingmik tours during my excursion, but spending a couple of hours on a sled chatting with Megan taught me a lot, and convinced me that we had made the best decision possible by booking with them.

We could have done a lot of things that day. We could have gone skiing, visited a spa, even taken a helicopter tour. While some of these activities would have benefited the local community, not all would have and none in the way that mushing with Megan and her dogs could have done. We weren’t just putting money into her coffers, every visitor who goes on a dogsled excursion also helps perpetuate a tradition. If business slows, if people stop visiting and going on dogsled tours, then how can they learn about the important role sledding has played throughout Canadian and even American history? (For the U.S. it’s Alaska mostly, Google Balto if you want to know more)

The most telling thing Megan said to me that snowy Sunday was that “if people don’t come, Canadian, Americans, or whoever, how can they learn about this important heritage?” And that’s exactly right.

What amazed me is that this was just one 2-hour excursion with one company. But if you multiply that across the span of a typical vacation, then multiple that by the number of visitors, you can quickly see how many times people are confronted with the decision to support something that helps both the economic and societal sustainability of the region, or not.

We can’t always make the right choices, we’re not perfect. But a little research and a little determination to really help local communities when we travel can and does make a huge impact on people’s lives. It helps people like Megan whose love in life is racing with her pups and maintaining a way of life that has defined the rugged determination of Canadians for more than a century.

What do you think? Do you try to patronize local businesses when you travel or is it not a concern?

The above consists of excerpts of a longer article; read the full-length version, originally published on Landlopers