Myth 3. Tourists hate wind farms

Fact: There is no evidence to suggest that wind farms deter tourists, indeed many wind farms are themselves tourist attractions.

For example, in Swaffham, Norfolk, over 50,000 tourists have climbed the wind turbine tower to see the spectacular views from the top of its the 65m high viewing platform.

In August 2003 20 Greenpeace volunteers interviewed over 650 tourists about the proposed Scarweather Sands wind farm in Swansea Bay. The response was emphatic - 96 percent said that they would be 'more likely' or 'just as likely' to return for a beach holiday after the wind fram was built.

In Scotland, a MORI poll was undertaken in 2002 regarding wind farms in the Argyll area. 80 percent of tourists said they would be interested in visiting a wind farm if it were open to the public with a visitor centre., while 91 percent of repondents said they would not be put off from visiting an area because of the presence of wind farms.

In Denmark, many tour agencies run boat trips to take visitors to see the offshore wind farm at Middelgrunden, near Copenhagen.

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