Wind does not affect tourism in Scotland, study says

The onshore wind sector in Scotland does not have a negative effect on the tourism sector, a study by Scottish economic consultancy BiGGAR Economics has found.

The firm looked into the relationship between the two sectors that it said has been a subject of debate over the past 15 years. It said that the onshore wind sector had expanded significantly between 2009 and 2014, with installed capacity increasing from 2 GW to 4.9 GW. Employment in the sustainable tourism sector, meanwhile, grew by over 10% between 2009 and 2013, which would suggest that the two sectors could "coexist and grow" at the level of the Scottish economy as a whole.

The consultancy also looked for evidence of a relationship between wind turbines and tourism at a local authority level and in the immediate vicinity of wind farms. For instance, it analysed areas within a 15 km (9.3 mile) radius from 18 wind farms built between 2009 and 2013 and found that in 66% of cases sustainable tourism employment performed better than in the wider local authority area.

The conclusion of the study is that "there is no relationship between the development of onshore wind farms and tourism employment at the level of the Scottish economy, at local authority level nor in the areas immediately surrounding wind farm development".

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