Does tourism help or harm destinations
This is a model answer written to show what a Band 7 response looks like against the marking criteria. It is a worked example, not a graded submission. To see your own band, paste your writing into the free checker.
The prompt
Every year, millions of tourists visit popular destinations around the world. Do the advantages of tourism for these places outweigh the disadvantages?
Band 7 model answer (265 words)
Popular destinations now receive visitor numbers that would have seemed impossible a generation ago. Although tourism brings genuine costs, I believe its advantages outweigh the disadvantages for most places, provided the industry is managed sensibly.
The economic case for tourism is powerful. Visitors spend money in hotels, restaurants and shops, supporting jobs for people who might otherwise leave the region, and the taxes they generate can fund schools and roads for residents. Tourism also gives communities a financial reason to preserve what makes them special: historic buildings are restored rather than demolished, and national parks are protected because a living forest attracts more income than a logged one. In many coastal towns and mountain villages, tourism is not one industry among several; it is the economy.
The drawbacks, however, are serious where visitor numbers run out of control. Residents of cities such as Venice have watched rents rise as flats become holiday lets, and daily life becomes difficult when streets are permanently full of crowds. Fragile environments suffer too, from litter on mountain trails to damaged coral reefs, and a town that rebuilds itself entirely around tourists can lose the very character they came to see.
Crucially, these harms follow from bad management rather than from tourism itself. Visitor caps, tourist taxes and limits on holiday rentals have already reduced the pressure in several destinations without destroying the income.
In conclusion, tourism enriches most destinations economically and gives them a reason to protect their heritage. Its real costs are the price of poor regulation, so the advantages outweigh the disadvantages when governments manage the flow.
Why this reaches Band 7
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Task Response
A direct answer to the "outweigh" question, stated in the introduction and defended throughout. The fourth paragraph does real argumentative work, reframing the disadvantages as "the price of poor regulation" rather than leaving the two sides in a tie.
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Coherence and Cohesion
Clear advantage and disadvantage paragraphs, then a short resolving paragraph beginning "Crucially", which signals its role in the argument precisely.
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Lexical Resource
Flexible topic vocabulary: "holiday lets", "visitor caps", "fragile environments", and the pointed "a living forest attracts more income than a logged one".
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Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Confident variety, including the semicolon in "not one industry among several; it is the economy" and accurate complex clauses across every paragraph.
The one fix to reach Band 7
On outweigh questions, Band 6 essays present both sides and then hedge. The Band 7 change is to add a paragraph that resolves the conflict, here by arguing the disadvantages come from poor management, so the verdict actually follows from the evidence.
Now check your own answer.
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