Plan this positive or negative essay about transport with the ideas and outline below, write it on a 40-minute timer, then compare it with a band-8 model answer.
You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.
Write about the following topic:
Cheaper flights and fast trains mean that people travel abroad for holidays and business much more often than in the past.
Is this a positive or negative development?
Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.
Write at least 250 words.
GoPrep wrote this practice question in the style of the exam. It is not an official IELTS question.
Pick two or three points from one or both columns. You do not need all of them, and your own examples score better than memorised ones.
Spend the first few minutes planning, then write.
0 words of 250 minimum
Your answer stays on this page only. Copy it before you leave.
Write your own answer first, then compare: how it answers the exact question, what each paragraph does, and which phrases you could borrow.
Budget airlines and high-speed rail have made foreign travel far more common than it was a generation ago. In my view this is largely a positive development, although it brings some costs that should be managed.
The benefits are considerable. Travelling abroad exposes people to different languages, customs and ways of thinking, which can reduce prejudice and encourage tolerance. A student who spends a week in another country may return with a broader outlook and a new interest in learning languages. Business also gains: companies can meet overseas clients in person, sign contracts faster and send staff to training courses at a reasonable price. In addition, tourism provides jobs and income in places that have few other industries, such as the small islands of Greece and Thailand, where many families depend on visitors.
On the other hand, frequent travel has a real environmental cost. Aeroplanes produce large amounts of carbon dioxide, and cheap tickets encourage short trips that people might once have skipped. Popular destinations can also suffer from overcrowding, with local residents priced out of their own neighbourhoods and fragile sites damaged by visitors. Venice, for example, now limits day-trippers because the city can hardly cope.
Yet these problems are not a reason to make travel expensive again. Governments can tax aviation fuel more fairly, invest in rail so that people can choose cleaner options, and place limits on visitor numbers at sensitive sites. Such steps keep the benefits while reducing the harm.
In conclusion, affordable international travel promotes understanding and economic growth, and its drawbacks, though serious, can be tackled through sensible regulation. I therefore regard the trend as positive overall.
| Phrase | Meaning |
|---|---|
| international travel | trips abroad |
| cultural exchange | sharing of customs |
| overtourism | too many visitors |
| budget travel | cheap travel |
| carbon emissions | greenhouse gases |
| global mobility | ease of moving worldwide |
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