Band 4.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.5 · IELTS Summit Mastery · 2026-09-13

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

Tourism is one of the fastest growing industries and contributes a great deal to economies around the world. However, the damage tourism can cause to local cultures and the environment is often ignored.

To what extent do you agree or disagree?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

Student answer (Band 4.5)

I strongly agree that the heavy focus on economic benefits often causes society to ignore the serious damage tourism inflicts on local environments and native traditions. [1] (https://engnovate.com/ugc-ielts-writing-task-2-essays/tourism-is-one-of-the-fastest-growing-industries-and-contributes-a-great-deal-to-economies-around-the-world-[redacted phone]e[redacted phone]c/), [2] (https://engnovate.com/ugc-ielts-writing-task-2-topics/tourism-is-one-of-the-fastest-growing-industries-and-contributes-a-great-deal-to-economies-around-the-world/)Environmental DamageHabitat destruction: Building hotels, resorts, and roads destroys natural habitats and forces wildlife out of their homes.Pollution and waste: Large crowds of visitors leave behind massive amounts of plastic trash and waste in fragile ecosystems like mountains and beaches.Resource depletion: Heavy use of water and energy by luxury resorts deprives local residents of basic daily resources. [1] (https://engnovate.com/ugc-ielts-writing-task-2-essays/tourism-is-one-of-the-fastest-growing-industries-and-contributes-a-great-deal-to-economies-around-the-world-79264a40fb6fd323/), [2] (https://essayforum.com/writing/tourism-endanger-local-inhabitant-89997/)Cultural ErosionCultural commodification: Sacred rituals and traditional dances are turned into cheap commercial entertainment for tourists, stripping away their true spiritual meaning.Loss of authenticity: Native lifestyles change as locals abandon traditional jobs to sell mass-produced souvenirs.Cultural homogenization: Local customs get replaced by globalized fast-food chains and Western habits. [1] (https://simplyielts.com/tourism-local-cultures-ielts-writing-task-2/), [2] (https://www.ielts-writing.info/EXAM/ielts_writing_samples_task_2/1175/), [3] (https://engnovate.com/ugc-ielts-writing-task-2-essays/tourism-is-one-of-the-fastest-growing-industries-and-contributes-a-great-deal-to-economies-around-the-world-[redacted phone]e[redacted phone]c/)Economic BalanceOver-reliance: Small towns that depend entirely on tourism suffer severe financial crashes during global crises or pandemics.Low-wage work: Most tourism jobs offer low pay and seasonal instability, while large foreign corporations take the real profits.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 4.5

The response takes a clear position in the opening sentence, agreeing that tourism causes damage to local environments and traditions. However, the structure resembles bullet points and note-form lists rather than fully developed paragraphs with supporting examples and explanations. Because of this, the ideas are under-developed. Furthermore, the length requirement of 250 words is not met, as the response contains only 178 words. This significantly impacts the overall task response as the arguments are not extended to a full essay format.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 4.0

The text is structured into topical headings (Environmental Damage, Cultural Erosion, Economic Balance), which show an attempt to organise information logically. However, cohesive devices are largely missing because the text relies on fragmented notes rather than complete, connected sentences and paragraphs. Paragraphing is inappropriate for an IELTS Task 2 essay, as standard prose paragraphs are required. Overall arrangement lacks smooth transitions and cohesive flow between the ideas.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student demonstrates a good control of relevant topic-specific vocabulary, using appropriate terms such as 'habitat destruction', 'cultural commodification', 'cultural homogenization', and 'resource depletion'. These less common lexical items show an awareness of style and collocation suitable for the topic. However, because the response is written in note form rather than complete sentences, the range cannot be fully utilised within a natural discourse, limiting the lexical score.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 4.0

It is difficult to fully assess grammatical range and accuracy because the text consists almost entirely of sentence fragments and bullet points rather than complete sentences containing main and subordinate clauses. The few phrases that form functional units are grammatically accurate, but the complete absence of a standard sentential structure means that complex sentence forms cannot be demonstrated.

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