Mass tourism reaches Galpagos

Level 3 Advanced
1

Key words

Fill the gaps using these key words from the text.
swarm
quarantine

alien
grafti

scramble
scrawl

ecosystem
fragile

strive
soar

1. If a person or animal is kept in ____________, they might have a disease so they are kept apart from other
people or animals so that they do not catch the disease.
2. If something is ____________, it can be broken or damaged easily.
3. ____________ is words or pictures drawn on walls in public places.
4. If something ____________, it rises very quickly to a high level.
5. If you ____________ into or out of something, you have to use your hands and feet to do so.
6. If a species is ____________ to a particular area, it comes from a different country or region.
7. An ____________ consists of all the plants and animals in a particular area, which are dependent
on one another.
8.A____________isaverylargegroupofinsectsyingormovingtogether.
9.Ifyou____________something,youwriteitcarelesslyorinahurrysothatitisdifculttoread.
10. If you ____________ to do something, you make a lot of effort to achieve it.

What do you know?

Decide whether these sentences are True or False in your opinion. Then check your answers in the text.
1. The Galpagos Islands belong to Mexico.
2. There are a lot of rats on the Galpagos Islands.
3. The isolation of the Galpagos Islands has helped to preserve their unique wildlife.
4. Environmental campaigners have welcomed the arrival of cruise ships in the Galpagos islands.
5. Visitors need a permit to visit the Galpagos islands.

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NEWS LESSONS / Mass tourism reaches Galpagos / Advanced

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6. The number of visitors to the islands is decreasing.

Mass tourism reaches Galpagos

Level 3 Advanced

Not since Hamelin has the discovery of a rat

provoked so much alarm. It was only a single
creature, but it had no business being on the
island of Santa Fe in the isolated Galpagos
archipelago, where conservationists now strive
to keep foreign wildlife at bay as effectively as
hundreds of miles of open ocean did for millions
of years.
The rat is alleged to have arrived on the MV
Discovery, a giant British cruise liner that visited
the islands in April. Today, the ship is due to
return to the Galpagos, and arriving with it are
460 paying passengers, protests and a campaign
to protect the islands from such mass tourism.
Voyages of Discovery, the cruise company,
promises visitors to the islands: The enigmas,
secrets and charms of this spectacular and rich
landscape are, like a dream, an unequalled
adventure just waiting to be discovered. But to
environmental campaigners, the ships arrival is
a nightmare. Conservationists on the Galpagos
have also found swarms of foreign insects on
the islands since the liners last visit and fear
its return today could introduce more alien
species that might further disrupt the sensitive
ecosystems.
TheDiscovery,therstlargecruiseshiptohave
visited the islands, is scheduled to return again
this April and twice each year thereafter. Permits
recently granted by the Ecuadorian government
the islands are owned by the South American
country could see one cruise ship stop there a
month.
Leonor Stjepic, director of the Galpagos
Conservation Trust, warned that such an
acceleration in visitor numbers would overwhelm
efforts to keep out pests and disease. The more
people that come, the greater the risk of invasive
species and the less effective the quarantine

The Galpagos are not suitable for this kind of

mass tourism. Were not being elitist: the islands
just dont have the infrastructure for that number
of people. Were not anti-tourism, but its got to
be high-value, low-volume tourism. Before the
Discoverys stopover, almost all visitors to the
islandsewdirectfromthemainland.Thiscruise
ship has travelled all the way down the coast of
South America and could bring all sorts of things
with it, Ms Stjepic said.
As well as the rat, and the insects,
environmentalists say the Discoverys previous
visit left the islands covered in litter, dropped
by wealthy tourists who have no idea where
they are or the impact their visit may have.
Graftiwasscrawledatthevisitorcentreand
one passenger reportedly asked where the local
Starbucks was.
Thestudyoftheimpactofthelinersrstvisit
was carried out by the local Charles Darwin
Foundation and the Galpagos National Park
Service. As well as the foreign wildlife, it found
that sales for local businesses increased by
5%, a third of what was expected. Infrastructure
was overwhelmed, they said, and local tour
operators, who take visitors around the different
islands, were forced to land large boats on fragile
shorelines because elderly cruise passengers
were unable to scramble in and out of rubber
dinghies.
However, David Yellow, managing director of
Voyages of Discovery, said the campaigners
were speaking from ignorance. He said the
rmoperatedunderstrictrestrictionsandcarried
out an in-depth environmental impact study
before it was granted a licence to operate in the
Galpagos. We are experienced at operating
in environmentally sensitive areas and we know

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NEWS LESSONS / Mass tourism reaches Galpagos / Advanced

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David Adam, environment correspondent

January 10, 2007

system is going to be. With the best will in the

world its virtually impossible to search a boat
that size thoroughly. Just sheer numbers means
its much easier for something to slip through.
And if we cant protect the Galpagos then what
does it say about the other natural spaces in the
world?

A rat, insects and litter: delights of

mass tourism reach Galpagos

Mass tourism reaches Galpagos

Level 3 Advanced
what to do. All our people [passengers] are given
a lecture before they go ashore and we know
they adhere to it. The Discovery anchored at the
island of San Cristbal during its stay, he said, a
good 25 miles from Santa Fe where the rat was
found.
MrYellowsaidtherewasnoproofthatthegrafti
and litter were left by Discovery tourists. Local
people create litter. They are not as sensitive to
the environment as the people we take there.
There are local people who smoke a cigarette
and throw it into the street. Drawn by the unique
wildlife and mystique, annual visitors to the
archipelago have soared from about 40,000 in
the late 1980s to more than 100,000 now.

Guardian News & Media 2007

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NEWS LESSONS / Mass tourism reaches Galpagos / Advanced

Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2007

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First published in The Guardian, 10/1/07

Mass tourism reaches Galpagos

Level 3 Advanced
3 Comprehension check
Choose the best answer according to the text.
1. How did the citizens of the Galpagos react to the appearance of the rat?
a. They were surprised and confused.
b. They were angry and disappointed.
c. They were frightened and worried.
2. Why are the Galpagos a popular tourist destination?
a. Because you can go there by cruise liner.
b. Because they have unique wildlife.
c. Because they have a fragile ecosystem.
3. What is the possible result of an increase in visitor numbers?
a.Itwillbemoredifculttokeepoutpestsanddiseases.
b. Rats will overwhelm the local infrastructure.
c. Cruise ships will be searched thoroughly.
4. What kind of tourist solution does the Galpagos Conservation Trust want?
a. Large numbers paying low prices.
b. Small numbers paying high prices.
c. No tourists at all.

4 Vocabulary 1: Find the word

Find these words or expressions.
1. A 3-word expression meaning prevent something dangerous or unpleasant from affecting you. (para 1)
2. A noun meaning somethingthatismysteriousanddifculttounderstand. (para 3)
3. A verb meaning to interrupt something and cause a problem. (para 3)
4. An adverb meaning afteraspecictime. (para 4)
5. A verb meaning to exist in such great amounts that someone or something cannot deal with them. (para 5)
6. A two-word verb meaning to enter without being noticed or stopped. (para 5)
7. An adjective meaning believingthatasmallgroupofpeopleshouldkeepthemostpowerandinuence. (para 6)

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NEWS LESSONS / Mass tourism reaches Galpagos / Advanced

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8. A two-word verb meaning to obey. (para 9)

Mass tourism reaches Galpagos

Level 3 Advanced
5 Vocabulary 2: Verb + noun collocations
Match the verbs in the left-hand column with the nouns in the right-hand column. Check your
answers in the text.
1. drop

a. a study

2. grant

b. a lecture

3. provoke

c. a licence/a permit

4. have

d. litter

5. carry out

e. an impact

6. give

f. alarm

6 Vocabulary 3: Word stress

Put these words from the text into one of the three groups depending on their word stress.
enigma
overwhelm

campaigner
quarantine

A 0oo

introduce
thoroughly

B o0o

sensitive
grafti

thereafter
ignorance

C oo0

7 Discussion

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NEWS LESSONS / Mass tourism reaches Galpagos / Advanced

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Should tourists be allowed to visit places with sensitive ecosystems?