Wind Farms OK, say Tourists

Archived

Tuesday, 29 October 2002

Personally, I have always found wind farms quite an inspiring site and find it hard to undertand why people get so upset about them. I was pleased, therefore, to find this report in The Scotman:

The belief that wind farms deter tourists from visiting some of Scotland's top beauty spots is not true, according to the results of a poll out today.

Nine out of ten people questioned said the presence of wind farms made no difference to the enjoyment of their holiday - and more said they had a positive effect on their choice of destination.

In the survey of more than 300 visitors to Argyll, commissioned by the Scottish Renewables Forum, 91 per cent said the presence of wind farms in the area made no difference to whether they would return.

The results of the poll, carried out by respected market researcher MORI, were released as it emerged that 65 jobs are to be created near Stornoway on the island of Lewis to make wind turbines at the island's former oil fabrication yard.

Of those questioned for the MORI poll, about one in five had actually seen one of the three wind farms in Argyll. When asked what effect, if any, it had on their impression of the area, 55 per cent said generally or completely positive, 32 per cent were undecided and only 8 per cent had a negative view.