13869 Poorism
IELTS Writing Task 2
Prompt: 'Poorism' or Tourism?
Sample Essay by Jeenn Lee Hsieh
ielts360toefl@hotmail.com 谢振礼
Essay Topic:
>Most of the world's poor live in countries where tourism is a growing industry. The issue is that tourism does not benefit the poorest. How can the income generated by tourism benefit the poor? And how can we ensure that tourism does not destroy traditional cultures and ways of life?
Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your knowledge or experience to support your opinion.
Example Essay by Jeenn Lee Hsieh:
One of the practical ways for rich countries to help the poorest of the poor is to promote tourism in poor countries, without destroying the essential traditions and ways of life. Reactions toward this kind of tourism, or poorism, are mixed. Whereas some people consider the intake of foreign currencies as a blessing, others fear that external influences may reshape a poor country's national identity.
To begin with, poor people need to work and tourism creates jobs, thus starting a virtuous economic cycle. More tourist arrivals will bring in more badly needed money, and in turn the gains will reduce the pains of people in extreme poverty. Therefore, today's poorism is that kind of tourism which is far from being the like of colonialism in the past. It is a positive development for the simple reason that, if a poor country needs money from outside, it must let the world come in spending money instead of exploiting the natural resources or causing environmental damage. In all appearances, poorism is not about distorting local economies nor about ruining places. It is rather about making money, hopefully going into the poorest pockets on earth; and for that matter, the more, the better.
It is understandable that a poor country's traditional cultures and ways of life that attract foreign tourists are not for sale. Poorism being sight-seeing, all tourists expect to have places to go and things to see, not excluding slum corners as sights of interests. This will benefit the poorest countries, although it is kind of sad to witness visitors snapping pictures and recording the sights and sounds of agony and misery. This is because the vivid images in the memory of tourists (with deep pockets) to arouse the moral consciousness. All they have to do is spend a few more dollars and make sure the local identity is safe. Of course, it is worth noting that, to attract more tourists, it is critical to improve basic conditions ranging from transportation to hospitality to entertainment since the modern global tourism demands leisure activities.
On the whole, tourism in the form of poorism is beneficial to poor countries, if only for economic reasons. It is like the ladder of opportunity for have-nots to move up from where they are to where they wish to be, although very slowly. This part is about money, and the rest is up to them to maintain cultures or mix them with foreign influences, whatever. (Essay created by Jeenn Lee Hsieh 谢振礼, ielts360toefl@hotmail.com pigai zuowen)
