IELTS Essay – Advantages & Disadvantages of Tourism

IELTS MODEL ESSAY

In the past couple of decades, the tourism industry has emerged as one of the fastest growing industries
in the world. More and more people are interested in visiting other places during their holiday. There have
been both positive and negative consequences associated with this recent development.
Tourism has brought many benefits for tourist destinations. Tourism not only helps to generate jobs, but
also boosts the economy. When tourists visit, they stay at hotels, eat at restaurants and use taxis. All of
this increases revenue for business owners involved in these industries. This income, in turn, helps the
local community to improve their standard of living. Furthermore, it has been found that tourism has
played an important role in the restoration of historical monuments and the revival of several cultural
heritages. Cities and towns make an effort to maintain sites for tourists to visit, helping to preserve
important parts of the past
Tourists also benefit from visiting new cities and countries. When a tourist visits a different country, they
learn about a new language and culture. They are also introduced to new cuisine and forms of dress. As
a result, visitors are able to explore the new culture and broaden their thinking. Children who accompany
their parents gain immeasurable benefits from exposure to a new culture. In addition, interacting with
local residents helps to facilitate understanding between cultures. These are important benefits in a world
that seems to be shrinking each day.
Despite the numerous advantages of tourism, one cannot afford to ignore the disadvantages. Opponents
of tourism criticize the industry on the ground that it exposes local culture to outside influence and leads
to the dilution of their culture. Moreover, with heavy tourist traffic, environmental damage and pollution to
local regions is inevitable.

Technological advances have made the world a global village and mixing between people of different
countries and cultures has become a part of life. Despite the disadvantages of tourism, most countries
cannot afford to grow their economies in isolation by shutting their doors to the outside world

International tourism has brought enormous benefit to many places. At the same time, there is
concern about its impact on local inhabitants and the environment.

Do the disadvantages of international tourism outweigh the advantages?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or
experience.

Write at least 250 words.

Model Answer:

Travel industry has experienced a major boom in the later part of the 20th century and has been a
boon in disguise, which has helped some weaker nations to uplift their failing economies. While
questions have been raised regarding the negative impacts that accompany the growth in the travel
sector, these definitely do not outweigh the associated benefits.

The economic boost that accompanies a successful travel industry is quite well recognised and
Thailand is the best example. The entire Thai economy revolves around tourism and the country had
been able to uplift its socio economic status through its flourishing hospitality sector.  Egypt is
another nation that is heavily dependent on its hospitality sector. The growth in the number of
incoming tourists leads to innumerable prospects in terms of local entrepreneurship & employment
generation. This is also associated with international investments and infrastructure development.
The national authorities, in order to ensure safety of the international visitors provide better law and
order enforcement, improved transportation and healthcare facilities, which in turn benefit the local
population.
On the other hand, the rising influx of holidaymakers is associated with increased incidences of
crimes, prostitution and antisocial activities like drugs, human trafficking and gambling, which affect
the values of the indigenous society. The local population are also affected by the growth in
property value indices. Environmentalists are also concerned regarding environmental remodelling,
that is associated with increased tourist activities in natural reserves. In this context, it is worth
mentioning that, by enforcing stern law and order and implementing strict legislations, governments
can control most of these negative impacts of tourism.

Henceforth, it can be confidently conveyed that, even though the growth in travel industry has
accompanying negative social impacts, these do not outweigh the contributions made by this sector
towards social development.

Model Answer (Band 8):

There is no doubt that international tourists have brought a lot of positive impact to many countries.
However, these benefits also come with many negative issues. Personally, I feel that international
tourism has resulted more advantages than disadvantages to the affected nations in general. In this
essay, I will examine both the benefits and their related cost and support my opinion accordingly.
First of all, many people argue that many local inhabitants have been sacrificed in order to make
way for the development of tourist attractions. For examples, tress were cut down so that hotels can
be constructed; old heritage sites were demolished and replaced by new shopping malls; local
residence, especially the aboriginals, have to be relocated so that their land can be used for new
airport. However, people tend to ignore the economics and social benefits brought upon by these
developments. For example, the number of jobs created by the constructions of hotels and
shopping malls could stimulate the economic growth of a nation and benefit the both the people
and the nation as a whole.   
Secondly, many people also claimed that the influx of foreign tourists will increase the social
problems such as crime rates immoral activities.  For examples, they claimed that tourists usually
like to visit pubs and clubs in the evening and that will lead to higher rate of alcohol related
problems such as noise pollution, vandalism and prostitution. However, I believe that the millions of
foreign dollars brought in by these tourists could actually decrease the problems if the  money are
put into proper used by the government. For example, the tax collected from the entertainment
outlet could be used to help combat crime and actually make the country a safer place.

In conclusion, I believe that if we look at the overall picture of international tourism when doing the
cost-benefit analysis, we will see that they are more advantages than disadvantages.  

Do the benefits of tourism outweigh the drawbacks?

Here are some ideas. I've organized the vocabulary according to different perspectives (different
ways of looking at this issue).

Positives of tourism:

Personal perspective: Tourism is a popular leisure activity. Tourists can relax, have fun, 'recharge
their batteries', and experience different customs and cultures (sight-seeing, sunbathing, visiting
monuments, tasting new cuisine). Travel opens our minds. It can broaden our horizons.

Economic perspective: The tourism industry is vital for some countries. People rely on tourism for
their income. Tourism attracts investment from governments and companies. It creates
employment due to demand for goods and services (hotels, entertainment etc.). It helps to improve
the standard of living.
Negatives of tourism:
Environmental perspective: Tourism can have a negative impact on the environment. Excessive
building (roads, hotels etc.) destroys natural habitats and spoils the landscape. Tourism creates
pollution and waste. It puts pressure on local resources such as food, water and energy.
Economic perspective: Tourism may cause a rise in the cost of living. Prices of goods and services go
up. Tourists buy second homes. All of this affects local people.
Cultural perspective: Local traditions may be lost. Traditional jobs and skills die out (e.g. farming,
fishing). Local people are forced to work in the tourist industry.

Provebs

He who travels a lot becomes wise; he who is wise stays home. ~ ChineseProverb

Travel broadens the mind. ~ Traditional Proverb

 A man travels the world over in search of what he needs and returns home to find it

Travel is the only thing that you buy that makes you reacher

The world is a book and those who don’t travel read only a page

Travel makes one modest you see what a tiny place you occupy in the world

If we were meant to stay in one place, we would have roots instead of feet