Climbers and hillwalkers claim tourists are shunning the Highlands in protest at the spiralling number of turbines in the area.
The Mountaineering Council of Scotland (MCofS) has now urged the Scottish Government to take immediate action to protect wild lands from “industrial-scale windfarms”.
The organisation’s survey of nearly 1,000 hillwalkers and climbers found that turbines were deterring more than two-thirds from visiting certain parts of the north.
The majority of respondents also wanted protection for important landscape areas, including the Cairngorms National Park, and buffer zones around them.
The results have been revealed as the Scottish Parliament prepares to debate the latest draft of National Planning Framework 3, which provides a blueprint for development across the country.
David Gibson, MCofS chief officer, said: “The income from visiting climbers and hillwalkers is vital to many small businesses and families in the Highlands.
“This survey shows that they are starting to lose out because huge electricity companies are being allowed to ruin our most precious mountain landscapes with badly sited and industrial-scale windfarms.
“The message is clear – the more that are built in our mountains, the more visitors are put off.
“ And you can be sure that climbers and mountaineers won’t be the only ones who are put off.”
His views were echoed by John Mackenzie, the Earl of Cromartie, who runs a tourism business at Castle Leod, in Strathpeffer, president of the Scottish Mountaineering Club and a former MCofS president.
He said: “The mountain landscape is now under severe threat from the growing numbers of these industrial-scale windfarms that are increasingly changing the character of the landscape. It may not be easy to restore the landscape once the turbines have reached the end of their operating life.”
He added: “It is essential that we put a brake on this in order to protect our mountains and the tourism which is so vital to the prosperity of so many people in small and remote communities.”
A Scottish Government spokesman said: “Increased protection for National parks, National Scenic Areas and wild land is exactly what the Scottish Government proposed when we published our draft Scottish Planning Policy last year, so we welcome that the Mountaineering Council of Scotland is in favour of that proposal.
“The final version of the new Scottish Planning Policy and National Planning Framework 3 will be published this summer further to the ongoing parliamentary process.
“There is strong public support for the development of wind power, but we agree that it is important that we have the right developments in the right places, and balance protection of our scenic and wild areas alongside the need to reduce the carbon emissions of the energy sector and help keep the lights on.
“Our planning policy is designed to help achieve that balance.”
Protesters from across the north welcomed the results of the Mountaineering Council of Scotland’s survey yesterday.
Anti-windfarm campaigner Lyndsey Ward said: “The impact on tourism is undeniable as more and more local businesses are finding out to their detriment.
“Some now ask their visitors their opinion on the increasing number of industrial turbines and masts in Scotland’s landscapes and whether it affects their enjoyment of their stay, and if they will come back to areas that have been irreparably despoiled.
“Many say they will go elsewhere and spend their holiday money in other countries that have not been as foolish as to savagely destroy their greatest asset.”
And Warwick Lister-Kaye, of Aigas Field Centre, said they would carry out their own survey of guests this year.
He added: “It is time the Scottish Government took notice of the damage their policies are doing up here in the Highlands. We feel exploited for the benefit of an ill-conceived Holyrood policy.”
The Scottish Conservatives’ energy spokesman Murdo Fraser said: “Mountaineering is an important element of Scotland’s tourism trade, and this survey shows the march of turbines is having a negative impact on it.
“That is a ludicrously high price to pay for an energy source that is intermittent and unreliable.”
But a VisitScotland spokeswoman said its research indicated that windfarms did not deter people from holidaying in Scotland.
She said: “VisitScotland understands and supports the drive for renewable energy, but recognises the need to balance this with concern surrounding the impact of windfarm developments on the tourism industry.”