🧳 Travel & Tourism13 questionsReal reported + Cambridge
IELTS travel & tourism
essay questions.
13 Task 2 questions on travel & tourism. Click any question to open the full breakdown, examiner watch-outs, and a 40-minute mock.
About this theme
Mass tourism, eco-tourism, cultural respect, language learning while travelling, holiday spending, working abroad. Travel & Tourism prompts often pit economic benefit against cultural or environmental cost. Best essays name a specific destination type (Venice, Bali, Iceland) and the specific mechanism (overtourism, water stress, housing displacement) rather than arguing in the abstract.
Task 2🏛️ Travel & TourismProblem & solution🔥 Hot
“Many historic cities are damaged by overtourism. What are the causes, and what can be done?”
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Task 2🥽 Travel & TourismOpinion (Agree / Disagree)
“Virtual reality may one day replace international travel. To what extent do you agree?”
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Task 2✈️ Travel & TourismAdvantages & disadvantages
“International travel has many cultural benefits, but its environmental cost is enormous. Do the advantages outweigh the disadvantages?”
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Task 2🚀 Travel & TourismOpinion (Agree / Disagree)
“Recent years have seen the rise of commercial space tourism. Is this a positive or negative development for society?”
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Task 2🎒 Travel & TourismDiscuss both views
“Some prefer luxury holidays in resorts, while others enjoy backpacking. Discuss both views.”
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Task 2🌏 Travel & TourismDiscuss both views
“Some say travel is more rewarding when you are young, while others believe older people benefit more. Discuss both views.”
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Task 2🗣️ Travel & TourismOpinion (Agree / Disagree)
“Some say tourists should make an effort to learn the language of countries they visit. To what extent do you agree?”
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Task 2🏖️ Travel & TourismTwo-part question
“More people are choosing holidays in their own country rather than travelling abroad. Why is this happening, and is it a positive or negative trend?”
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Task 2🛫 Travel & TourismAdvantages & disadvantages
“Budget airlines have made travel cheap for millions but also worsen climate change. Do the advantages outweigh the disadvantages?”
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Task 2🗾 Travel & TourismOpinion (Agree / Disagree)
“Some argue tourists should be required to learn about local customs before visiting a country. To what extent do you agree?”
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Task 1 · Academic🏝️ Travel & TourismMap
“The maps show an island before and after the construction of facilities for tourists.”
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Task 1 · Academic✈️ Travel & TourismLine chart
“The line graph shows the number of international tourist arrivals in four countries from 2000 to 2020.”
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Task 1 · Academic✈️ Travel & TourismTable
“The table shows international tourist arrivals and tourism receipts in five countries in 2019.”
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❓ FAQ
About travel & tourism in IELTS
- How often does travel & tourism come up in IELTS Writing Task 2?
- It's one of the most-tested themes. Examiners draw on it because it generates strong opinions while remaining accessible to candidates from any background. You can reasonably expect to encounter a travel & tourism question in practice tests and on the real exam.
- What question types should I expect on travel & tourism?
- All five Task 2 shapes are fair game: opinion (agree/disagree), discuss both views, problem-solution, two-part, and advantages-and-disadvantages. The same theme can appear in any of these shapes, so practise the same idea across multiple question types rather than memorising essays.
- How specific do my examples need to be?
- Specific enough to be falsifiable. "Many studies show X" is empty; "a 2019 OECD report on X found Y in Z country" is concrete. You don't need a real citation. Examiners reward the specificity of the claim, not the accuracy of the source. Naming a country, a year, or an industry counts.
- Can I use the same vocabulary across all travel & tourism essays?
- Topic-specific lexis matters. Each of the 13 questions below hides a slightly different angle, and Band 7+ vocabulary depends on naming the precise mechanism: "carbon-intensive industries" beats "polluters", "screen-mediated communication" beats "talking online".