Fáilte Ireland is a prescribed body under Planning and Development legislation for all planning applications which may have a significant impact from a tourism perspective. In 2007 in order to inform tourism policy on wind farm developments Fáilte Ireland undertook significant research amongst both overseas and domestic visitors, to determine visitor attitudes towards wind farms. This research was repeated in 2012, to determine any changes in visitor attitudes over that period. This research is about to be published as a position paper by Fáilte Ireland and allows an evidence based approach to be taken to the evaluation of the potential tourism impact of wind farm applications in Ireland by the National Tourism Development Authority.
As part of this research visitors were asked to comment on a variety of preferences in relation to the number, size, and location of wind farms. The results indicate that visitors prefer wind farms with larger turbines, but in smaller numbers, to offset the size of the individual farms. Inland sites, away from immediate accommodation views are seen as more acceptable for visitors compared to coastal locations, which are less favoured for the development of wind farms.
Visitors were also asked to comment on their likelihood to return to an area should further wind farms be built. The most widely held view is that this would not impact the likelihood of returning to the area, with a slightly greater majority saying that this would have a positive rather than a negative impact. However importantly 24% (a slight increase on 2007 at 21%) did state that this would have a negative impact on their likelihood to return to the area in the future. It is considered that potential impacts such as this could possibly be avoided or mitigated if future wind farms are designed and located appropriately to take visitor preferences in to consideration.
It is based upon these visitor preferences that Fáilte Ireland advocates for the appropriate design and siting of wind farms in Ireland on behalf of the tourism industry.