Wind Energy and the Tourist Gaze Empowering, Entertaining or Total ―Turnoff‖

• Number of tourism attitude studies on offshore wind farms is low; on-land turbine studies are more numerous. • Offshore locations are commonly preferred to on-land sites. • Tourism can successfully include wind turbines and farms, both rural and urban. • When used to brew beer, wind turbines are accepted by 99 % of the population. Questions to think about… • What factors make wind energy acceptable to the traveling public? • Would the presence of wind energy initiatives affect your willingness to visit a destination? • Are your attitudes towards wind energy different when on vacation than at home? • At what point or under what conditions can wind energy itself become a tourist attraction? Growing interest in ―Green Travel‖ – 87 % of U.S. consumers are seriously concerned about the environment (GfK Roper); – 30 % of consumers make an effort to avoid buying products from corporations they don‘t feel are environmentally responsible (GfK Roper); – 22 % boycott those that are harming natural resources (GfK Roper); – 73 % of consumers consider it important or very important that companies have a good environmental track record (BCG January 2009); – Despite current economy, 67 % of US consumers that claimed to buy green products reported buying the same amount, 25 % reported buying more, and only 8 % are buying less (Harris Interactive March 2009) Traveler Likelihood of Visiting Green Attractions 70 % of attractions visitors are more likely to visit a ‘Green