Band 5+: Write about the following topics. Some people say that tourism has many negative effects on the countries that people travel to. How true is this statement? What can tourists do to reduce the harmful effects of tourism on local cultures and environments? Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own experience.

In today’s world, some believe that tourists have a lot of negative effects on the countries that people travel to. However, I do not agree with this statement. For instance, I strongly believe that they bring more positive benefits than negatives.

One of the biggest advantages of tourism is bringing more income to the country and increasing job opportunities. Not only that, a lot of companies and businesses can get the benefit of the travel industry, including travel insurance companies, travel agents, and even tour guides. Nevertheless, from my point of view, I can say that countries are effective at reducing the number of travelers by not having enough hospitality services. For example, my country Iran doesn’t have many tourists because of the strict rules and not many good services for travelers.

Furthermore, hotels, restaurants, and shopping centers are also great examples of tourism advantages. I reckon this because of the fact that when guests visit a country, they usually get a taxi to the hotel and then they will go to restaurants, and more importantly, they do a lot of shopping, so as I said, there is a more positive landscape than the negative landscape.

In conclusion, from my point of view, the argument that tourism brings a lot of disadvantages to the country is not true, because tourism has been built more advantageously for many countries and brings so many job opportunities and income for the people.