Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Summit Mastery · 2026-09-22

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 5.5)

It is often argued by some people that tourism is one of the fastest-growing sectors these days and has a significant negative impact on local culture and environment. Some people might agree with the statement, but I completely disagree. Not only because the tourism industry creates jobs and growth in the local economy, but also for give opportunity to locals interects with international visitors.

There are multiple benefits associated with the tourism industry. Firstly, the leisure industry creates jobs for the local public is considered a leading benefit of this development. As tourism creates a lot of jobs in hotels, restaurants, and as a tour guide. Take the example of South Africa, in 2000, their government made an initiative to open doors for international visitors in their country with a tax-free subsidy, and in the following years the unemployment rate decreased. Thus, it is proven that the tourism sector is beneficial for the local people.

Secondly, contribution to the local economy is another major benefit of tourism. As visitors get services and buy goods from local shops. For instance, in Mongolia, it is expected that by the year 2040, the local economy of their will have doubled, mainly because this country recently opened to international tourism. Hence, tourism is considered a vital benefit for the country and local economy.

Finally, tourism offer oppertunity to local people to interact with foregners. As with the interaction, the relationship between people and culture can be stronger.

To sum up, I believe that the leisure industry is beneficial for the country and locals, not only because of job creation and bosts local and national economy, but also for building relationships between people and cultures.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response addresses the prompt by clearly taking a strong stance in complete disagreement with the statement, arguing that tourism yields economic and cultural benefits rather than purely negative impacts. The student presents a clear position throughout the essay. Ideas are extended and supported with examples, such as South Africa in 2000 and the projected economic growth in Mongolia by 2040. However, the arguments mainly focus on the economic and social advantages of tourism, while only briefly acknowledging cultural exchange in the final body paragraph, leaving the counter-premise regarding environmental and cultural damage relatively unaddressed. Furthermore, there are some minor structural issues in the introduction, such as the sentence fragment 'Not only because the tourism industry...'. Overall, the task is addressed with a clear position and relevant, supported ideas, earning a band score of 6.5.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay displays a clear logical organisation and general progression through standard paragraphing. Each body paragraph is introduced with a transition marker ('Firstly', 'Secondly', 'Finally', 'To sum up'). However, cohesive devices are sometimes mechanical or awkwardly applied, and referencing is occasionally faulty, such as 'the local economy of their will have doubled'. Paragraphing is used sufficiently to structure the introduction, body points, and conclusion, but the overall progression of ideas feels somewhat formulaic. While the logical flow is easy to follow, the minor inaccuracies in cohesive links and referencing place this response firmly in the band 6.0 category.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting some less common items such as 'subsidy', 'unemployment rate', and 'international visitors'. However, there are noticeable lexical errors and awkward collocations throughout the text, including 'interects' instead of 'interacts', 'bosts' instead of 'boosts', and 'oppertunity' instead of 'opportunity'. Spelling mistakes ('foregners') and grammatical word-form errors ('give opportunity to locals interects') detract from the precision of the writing. While communication is never impeded and the vocabulary is sufficient to convey the intended meaning, the frequency of spelling and word-choice errors prevents the score from reaching band 6.5.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The response exhibits a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, though control over complex structures is inconsistent. There are several noticeable grammatical errors, sentence fragments, and awkward syntactic constructions, such as 'Not only because the tourism industry creates jobs... but also for give opportunity to locals interects with international visitors' and 'the local economy of their will have doubled'. Punctuation is generally acceptable, but minor errors persist throughout. While simple sentences are often controlled well, attempts at more complex clauses frequently result in errors that require the reader to work slightly harder to interpret the meaning, aligning with the band 5.5 descriptors.

See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.

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