KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 May 6, 2019 \u2013 Researchers at the 溏心vlog免费B站 who analyzed AirBnB rental data before and after construction of the Block Island Wind Farm have found that, contrary to some concerns, the turbines have increased tourism on the island.<\/p>\n
Corey Lang, 溏心vlog免费B站 associate professor of environmental economics, and doctoral student Andrew Carr-Harris, said that many coastal communities that rely on tourism to sustain their economy have worried that offshore wind farms would negatively affect tourism.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a common argument for pushback against siting offshore wind, but there isn\u2019t a lot of empirical evidence about it one way or the other,\u201d said Lang. \u201cThere have been surveys done assessing how tourists might feel about it, based on potential images of turbines in offshore waters, but those are hypothetical.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201c\u201cSome of the recent surveys suggest that people consider offshore wind farms to be an eyesore,\u201d said Carr-Harris. \u201cPeople tend to think the turbines will ruin the seascape and detract from their beach experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
The researchers collected lodging data from AirBnB to examine trends in monthly revenues, occupancy rates and reservations from roughly two years before construction of the turbines to one year after construction was completed. They compared AirBnB rental trends in Block Island to those in nearby communities that are also dependent on summer vacation rentals \u2013 Narragansett, Westerly and Nantucket.<\/p>\n
The results were almost entirely positive for the peak summer months of July and August, and there were no noticeable effects during the rest of the year.<\/p>\n
During July and August following construction of the turbines, AirBnB rentals in Block Island experienced, on average, a 19 percent increase in occupancy rates and a $3490 increase in monthly revenue compared to those in Narragansett, Westerly and Nantucket.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe 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,\u201d said Lang.<\/p>\n
While the data didn\u2019t indicate the reason for the increase in occupancy, Lang and Carr-Harris suggest that people were curious about the wind farm and wanted to see it for themselves.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think there has been some excitement about it. People are excited about renewable energy and sustainability, and they want to get behind it,\u201d Lang said. \u201cSo for the nation\u2019s first offshore wind farm, we believe our results indicate that it has had a positive effect on tourism.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are other factors that could be at play, too,\u201d said Carr-Harris. \u201cIt\u2019s perceived that there is better fishing near the turbines, for instance, so more people may be coming to the island to go fishing.\u201d<\/p>\n
The researchers noted that the curiosity factor may dissipate shortly, so the positive effects on vacation rentals may not persist for long.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe long-term trajectory might be very different,\u201d Lang said. \u201cIf it\u2019s driven by curiosity, then we might expect it to go back to normal. But if there are fundamental things that have changed, like better fishing, then it\u2019s likely that some enhanced opportunities that come from renewable energy may be sustained. But that\u2019s speculation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Also, because the Block Island Wind Farm is the first of its kind in North America, it may be generating more tourism interest than will future wind farms, they said. And a small wind farm like at Block Island may not generate the negative impressions that a much larger wind farm may generate in the future.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo it\u2019s difficult to extrapolate our results to other communities,\u201d said Lang. \u201cBut it mitigates some fear that there\u2019s going to be big negatives.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lang plans to follow up this study with an investigation of perceptions of the wind farm from the perspective of those who live on Block Island year-round.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s one thing to look at a turbine for a few days and be mesmerized by it,\u201d he said. \u201cBut to have it there constantly may be different.\u201d<\/p>\n
The research was published in the journal Resource and Energy Economics<\/em>. Funding was provided by Rhode Island Sea Grant.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 May 6, 2019 \u2013 Researchers at the 溏心vlog免费B站 who analyzed AirBnB rental data before and after construction of the Block Island Wind Farm have found that, contrary to some concerns, the turbines have increased tourism on the island. Corey Lang, 溏心vlog免费B站 associate professor of environmental economics, and doctoral student […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[5],"class_list":["post-74806","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archives","tag-college-of-the-environment-and-life-sciences"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74806","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74806"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74806\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}