Ielts essay!
International tourism is now more common than ever before. Some feel that this is a positive trend, while others do not. What are your opinions on this?
Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience. Write at least 250 words.
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The past 50 years has seen a considerable increase in global tourism. The tourist economy opens new doors, offering new life experiences to those who on holiday, throughout the world. Yet, there remains some disagreement as to whether the overall effect has been positive or negative. While there are certainly valid arguments to the contrary, I personally believe that the benefits of global tourism far overweigh the drawbacks. The benefits are twofold.
First of all, it is undeniable that tourism plays an important role in creating opportunities for jobs within the global economy. The World Trade Organization statistic show that labour in tourism accounted for 7 percent of the total labour throughout the world in 1995. Moreover, international tourism has the potential to foster greater understanding and tolerance between people of different cultures. Admittedly, in many nations, the influx of mainly western tourists has brought with it problems such as prostitution, alcoholism and drug-abuse. Overall however, tourism is a vast collective resource for trade in the host country’s economy.
Furthermore, and even more importantly, the tourism industry has been an attributing factor in the increase of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), as cited from UNWTO (United Nations World Tourism Organisation), and tourist revenue accounts for 10.7% of the world’s GDP. In some countries, income from tourism has reached between 20 and 40 percent of their GDP. One particularly good example of this is the approximately 4 million USD in revenue from the tourism trade, being 3.9% of Viet Nam’s GDP, in 2010.
In conclusion, I once again reaffirm my position that international tourism will develop sharply in the foreseeable future, and that it has a positive impact on host country’s economy.
