TRUMP TELLS SCOTTISH PARLIAMENT WIND FARMS WILL DESTROY THE COUNTRY'S TOURISM INDUSTRY

FROM THE DAILY TELEGRAPH WEBSITE

United States tycoon Donald Trump told the Scottish Parliament today that wind farms will destroy the country's tourism industry.

Donald Trump made the remarks during a hearing at the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh examining the nation's renewable energy targets.

Trump is an outspoken critic of wind farms and opposes a planned development of turbines just offshore from his golf course development on the Menie Estate, some 12 miles up the coastline from Aberdeen.

"Wind turbines, made in China, are going to be the destruction, almost a total destruction, of your tourist industry," Trump said.

He told the committee he supported other forms of renewable energy generation, such as wave and hydro power.

Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond defended his government's push for renewables and said he would not be moved by Trump's pleas for the Menie wind farm development to be shelved.

"We welcome investment in industry, in technology and golf courses. But just investing in Scotland doesn't mean you own the country. And, in particular, the energy policy of this country, so important for our future, that will be set by the people and the parliament of the country, not by anybody else," Alex Salmond said.

Trump added: "He (Alex Salmond) did want me to come to Scotland. He did want me to spend, as I said, tens of millions of pounds and he did think that was an asset. And it is an asset: I have created an absolute jewel for Scotland," retorted Trump, when asked about Mr Salmond's stance.
The Scottish government estimates that tourism generates £4 billion per year for the economy and a survey for country's tourism body suggested that 80 per cent of visitors would not be put off by wind farms.