The Impacts of Offshore Wind Farms on Coastal Tourists’ Behaviors in South Korea

Abstract

Offshore wind power has grown significantly worldwide but the presence of wind farms can be problematic in tourism areas. Offshore wind farms affect tourism behaviors. This study was conducted to assess the extent to which individuals’ characteristics affect their acceptance of wind farm projects, tourism behaviors represented as trip intention and site substitution when the offshore wind turbines are deployed in the beach. Using a case of offshore wind farm projects in South Korea, study results show that individuals’ perceptions of wind energy and perceived impacts of tourism were the critical variables that help understand the public acceptance. The likelihood of an individual visiting a beach with offshore wind farms was connected to their values concerning wind energy, seascape, and the environment. Such values played an important role in deciding to visit a different site. The results expectedly provide meaningful implications related to the siting of offshore wind farms.

Keywords:

• offshore wind power
• public acceptance
• coastal tourism
• tourism impacts
• tourism behaviors

Additional information

Funding

This work was primarily supported by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Korea and the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF-2021S1A5A2A01). This work was also supported by the project titled “Marine Ecosystem-Based Analysis and Decision-Making Support System Development for Marine Spatial Planning” by the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (grant number 20170325).