Community and local Impact

Making a genuine difference

At AliKats’ we are constantly thinking about how we can reduce our environmental impact and help conserve the mountain spaces that we love. We are committed to being a positive impact company; one that creates more beneficial impact (than harmful impact) on communities and the environment. This means sharing our challenges, ideas and solutions as we look to develop tourism that’s in balance with our climate, restores the mountain environment, and supports local communities.

Montagne Verte

Montagne Verte is a Morzine-based non-profit public benefit association working to provide solutions for mountain residents, visitors and businesses alike, to minimise their environmental impact. Al and Kat, the co-owners of AliKats, are foundation members and sit on the board of trustees.

With funding from local residents and businesses, just like us, Montagne Verte is able to employ a Sustainability Director to work full time on all things climate related. As a result valuable green resources are being created and shared, important eco initiatives are in operation and environmental decisions are being made more timely.

Key Montagne Verte initiatives include:

  • Establishing a commercial train line between Lille and the North-Alps in order to reduce carbon emissions linked to plane travel. This means visitors to Morzine can travel from London, Holland or Belgium to Cluses (28 km from Morzine) with just one platform change at Lille. This would be a huge win for the climate as travelling by train from the UK to the Alps can reduce the environmental footprint of the journey by more than 90%!
  • Launching a local pilot bio waste collection scheme in Morzine, with an e-bike to collect commercial bio waste daily and deliver it to a bio-gas plant nearby.
  • Developing the Green Pages; a database of eco-friendly products and services to help businesses make ecological choices.
  • Participating in the Morzine/Avoriaz led initiative of achieving a Flocon Vert accreditation for the Portes du Soleil: a label which certifies that a mountain based tourist destination is making substantial efforts to make its resort green.
  • Planning the process of Montagne Verte presenting to local schools on sustainability issues

As members of Montagne Verte, AliKats is contributing to the important process of turning Morzine and its neighbouring towns into a more sustainable tourism destination. Together we make a collective, and a collective can make a difference. Support us and read more about Montagne Verte here.

 

Operating on a local scale

At AliKats, we are committed to benefiting the local community that we live in and operate our business from. We achieve this on multiple levels, and predominantly by ensuring the economic benefits of tourism stay within the community.

We operate within the value system of a local circular economy, which means we purchase food, goods and services, and employ people from the local community as much as possible. You can read more about how this benefits the community here.

AliKats is a business registered only in France, which means all the taxes that we pay go into the local community. We believe that creating jobs is a really tangible way to support the local economy. All of our employees are hired through the French employment system.

In addition to this, wherever possible, we try to employ people on permanent year round contracts (as opposed to temporary seasonal ones) so that our employees can put down roots and build their own lives in the local community as well.