Band 9 model answer
As travel becomes ever more affordable, millions of people now descend on popular destinations each year, and the ecological toll of this movement is increasingly difficult to ignore. This essay will outline the principal environmental harms caused by mass tourism before proposing a number of practical remedies that could ease the pressure.
The most visible problem is pollution. Coastal resorts and mountain trails are frequently choked with discarded plastic, while the constant flow of cruise ships and aircraft pumps carbon emissions into already fragile ecosystems. A second concern is habitat destruction: pristine coastlines are concreted over to build hotels, and delicate coral reefs are degraded by careless snorkellers and dropped anchors. Finally, water scarcity becomes acute in arid regions, where swimming pools and golf courses drain reserves that local communities desperately need to survive.
Several measures could meaningfully mitigate these effects. Governments might cap visitor numbers at the most vulnerable sites, as several national parks already do, thereby relieving the pressure on overstretched habitats. Equally, levying a green tax on flights and hotels would generate funds for conservation while gently discouraging excessive travel. At an individual level, promoting responsible behaviour, such as refusing single-use plastics, staying on marked paths and respecting protected zones, would compound these official efforts considerably over time.
In conclusion, although mass tourism inflicts genuine damage through pollution, habitat loss and the depletion of scarce resources, this harm is by no means inevitable. Through a sensible combination of strict regulatory caps, carefully targeted taxation and far greater public awareness, the tourism industry could yet be rendered considerably more sustainable without sacrificing the substantial economic benefits that it so undeniably brings to host nations.
Examiner’s notes
- Task Response: the two-part question is fully addressed, with body two listing three distinct problems and body three matching each with a proportionate solution, ensuring complete coverage.
- Coherence and Cohesion: paragraphs are signposted with precise discourse markers ('The most visible problem', 'A second concern', 'Finally'), giving the reader an effortless sense of progression.
- Lexical Resource: topic-specific collocations such as 'fragile ecosystems', 'habitat destruction' and 'water scarcity' demonstrate the natural, precise vocabulary expected at Band 9.