IELTS Sample Essay 16 – Negative Effect of Mass Tourism

Mass tourism has a negative effect on a country and should be discouraged. To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement? Provide examples and supporting evidence to back up your opinion on this subject.

In recent decades, travelling overseas to experience new cultures and places has been a norm. While excessive tourism has the potential to cause pollution in the surrounding habitat, I believe the resulting outcomes on the nation’s economy outweigh the downside.

Firstly, extensive tourism can cause harm to the country’s environment. This is because uprising demand for food, water, and energy by the travellers forces the country to supply enormous amount of resources at the expense of the environment. Therefore, a probable resource deficit might drive the government to build more dams and burn more fuel to meet the demand, resulting in deforestation and poor air quality. For example, Khaosan Road, a popular street in Thailand, is congested with high volume of foreigners, leading to huge amount of waste being discarded on the street every day. Ultimately, the widespread of tourism encourages pollution and destroys the nation’s point of interest which made it attractive in the first place.

Contrastingly, the influx of visitors can bring positive effects to the country’s economic health. Often, foreigners on a holiday are willing to spend on local products for themselves and their loved ones. In the Third World countries, tourists are subjected to higher prices when purchasing goods. However, many travellers are not bothered to bargain due to high currency exchange rates. This in turns drives the local economy, creating more jobs that will have prosperous ripple effects towards the natives. For instance, business owners selling hand-made cultural souvenirs can preserve their culture and way of life whilst receiving a handsome income. So, the economy is propelled in a progressive direction.