Latest News
Welcome to Matka Mäkelä’s latest news! Stay up to date on the latest events and read stories from our unforgettable trips.
We received an international sustainability certification
Biosphere – Sustainability Certification
What does the certification mean?
The Biosphere Sustainable certification is awarded to companies that are committed to the principles of sustainable development and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The certification covers three key areas:
Environmental Responsibility – We focus on reducing emissions, using resources efficiently, and adopting environmentally friendly practices.
Social responsibility – We care for our staff, our customers, and the local community.
Economic responsibility – We operate transparently and ethically, while supporting the local economy.
Responsibility is important to us
Responsibility is not a new concept for us. We have long worked to ensure that our services are as environmentally friendly as possible and that we can offer a safe and comfortable travel experience to all our customers.
This certification is concrete proof that we are on the right track. It encourages us to continue our work to develop even better and more responsible travel services.
Follow us on social media
We want to openly share what sustainability means to us in practice. We’ll be sharing concrete examples of our everyday sustainability efforts—both big and small—on social media. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram to stay up to date!
Here’s an example of how we support our local community: Matka Mäkelä’s #softtrips safely transport Keuruu’s soccer players and staff to their destination 🧡⚽️.
You can also read our previous articles about our sustainability efforts here (in Finnish):
Matka Mäkelä osaksi perheyritysten liittoa / 2026
Näin toimit pysäkillä turvallisesti / 2025
Kesäliikennettä vastuullisesti / 2025
Outdoor Express – Julkisilla kansallispuistoon / 2025
Olemmeko mukana Black Friday-alennusmyynneissä? / 2023
Unescon maailmanperintökohteet / 2023
Sustainable Travel Finland / 2023
Mitä on GreenCare? / 2022
Ukrainalaisille tukea / 2022
Retkietiketti – Vastuullista retkeilyä / 2021
Kotimaan matkailua – Vastuullisesti / 2021
Hyvinvoinnin merkitys työyhteisössämme / 2021
Kestävä matkailu / 2020
Thank you!
We would like to thank all our customers, partners, and staff for this achievement. Together, we are making travel more responsible and meaningful.
Learn more about our sustainability efforts on the Biosphere Sustainable website.
Let’s keep working together to promote sustainability!
Wishing you sunny days,
Noora Mäkiaho
Matka Mäkelä Joins the Family Business Association
In a family business, family, business, and ownership are intertwined.
These elements are also intertwined in Matka Mäkelä’s daily life.
“A family business is defined as a company in which at least one member of the same family or clan, or their legal representative, is involved in the company’s management or administration.”
Family entrepreneurship is a strong feature of Matka Mäkelä’s history, a fact now reinforced by its membership in the Family Business Association. Matka Mäkelä has been serving customers for four generations.
For Mäkelä, membership in the Family Business Association means, above all, continuous development and the sharing of lessons learned within the family.
The Family Business Association supports Finnish family businesses in its activities.
The Family Business Association is a community for family business owners that supports responsible and
committed work in Finland. The Family Business Association’s values reflect the importance of its stakeholders.
Matka Mäkelä’s operations reflect the same values, which is why membership in the association is a source of pride for the company as well.
“The impact of family businesses on society is growing because owners develop their businesses and expertise responsibly and with great passion. The Family Business Association is the most important partner and social influencer for owner families.”
This is also how Matka Mäkelä operates.
The Family Business Association is Mäkelä’s partner, and with its support, we can influence the social standing of family businesses.
Read more about the history of Matka Mäkelä here!
Sustainable Travel Finland
Tourism is a growing industry that creates jobs and provides vital income for local communities. At the same time, climate change is making extreme weather more common and effecting where people choose to travel.
That is why also tourism industry must be built on sustainable and responsible choices. Sustainable travel is how we can respond to climate change.
Climate change impacts the North especially hard. That is why we need Sustainable Travel Finland.
Sustainable travel is more than just a carbon footprint. It has three different dimensions: ecological, sociocultural and economic.
Ecological means how a business recycles, monitors its carbon footprint, and takes action to reduce it.
Sosiocultural means how a business respects local communities and culture, ensures accessibility, and treats customers and staff equally.
Economic means using local labor and making sustainable investments.
Sustainable work in Finland
Visit Finland has developed the Sustainable Travel Finland (STF) programme to help travel companies and destinations improve their sustainability. You can read more about Sustainable Travel Finland here.
In practise, STF is a journey where company evaluates its operations, work habits, investments, and future plans from a sustainability perspective. Companies must be honest and critical when assessing their methods and making necessary changes. After these steps, they can earn the STF label – a symbol that sustainability and responsibility are core values. The label is reviewed every two years to track progress.
We started our Sustainable Travel Finland journey at the end of 2022 and are still on this path. But how do sustainability and responsibility show up in our everyday work?
Our values
We have defined four main values in our strategy: safety, quality, caring and responsibility.
Responsibility means we work to improve sustainability in the travel industry and maintain our competitiveness responsibly.
Safety means we offer a safe and healthy work environment.
Quality means we deliver excellent services and experiences and that is why we carefully monitor our customers feedback.
Caring means we believe the community’s well-being depends on individual welfare. That is why we look after ourselves and each other.
How we take action
Our customers and staff have always been important to us. We employ local people and provide public transportation to keep rural areas vital and make it possible for people to live in the countryside.
We renovated our bus garage and our office, switched to a more environmentally friendly heating system, which we made in cooperation with many local companies.
Everyone can take part in sustainable action. These do not have to be big gestures. You can build a bug hotel or birdhouse next spring, for instance. Sustainability is about everyday choices, small actions, and the desire to keep moving forward. It is a path that never ends but offers new perspectives and connects you with others on the same journey.
Stay tuned! More news about sustainable travel and responsibility coming soon.