Published on : Wednesday, May 8, 2019
“Some of the recent surveys suggest that people consider offshore wind farms to be an eyesore,” said Carr-Harris. “People tend to think the turbines will ruin the seascape and detract from their beach experience.”
From AirBnB, the researchers have collected lodging data to look into the trends in monthly revenues, occupancy rates and reservations from approximately two years before construction of the turbines to one year after construction was done. They made a comparison of AirBnB rental trends in Block Island to those in nearby communities which are dependent on summer vacation rentals – Narragansett, Westerly and Nantucket.
For the peak summer months of July and August, the outcome of the results was nearly positive, and there were no obvious impacts during the rest of the year.
During July and August following the construction of the turbines, AirBnB rentals in Block Island on average experienced 19 percent rise in occupancy rates and a USD3,490 growth in monthly revenue in comparison to those in Narragansett, Westerly and Nantucket.
“We have multiple indicators for the tourism market, and they seem to be indicative that there was an increase in interest in visiting Block Island in the year after construction of the wind farm,” said Lang.
As the data didn’t point to the reason for the rise in occupancy, Lang and Carr-Harris advise that people were inquisitive about the wind farm and wanted to see it for themselves.
“I think there has been some excitement about it. People are excited about renewable energy and sustainability, and they want to get behind it,” Lang said. “So for the nation’s first offshore wind farm, we believe our results indicate that it has had a positive effect on tourism.”
Tags: America Good for Tourism