IELTS Writing Task 2 with sample answer.
You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.
Write about the following topic:
In many places, foreign visitors are charged more than locals when they visit cultural or tourist attractions.
Do you agree or disagree with this?
Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.
You should write at least 250 words.
Model Answer:
Some tourist attractions in many places have a policy of charging tourists a massive rate higher than locals. Opinions differ considerably when it comes to the issue that the foreign visitors should be overcharged or not. However, I am of the honest opinion that it is fair to charge international tourists higher prices. Indeed, foreign visitors cannot be treated as locals for several reasons.
First of all, these places obviously are very few and they really are worth the elevated rate of admission. If there is a low supply and a high demand, the price will high according to law of supply and demand. In the free market economy, it is quite usual that if foreign visitors are willing to pay a premium, then they should. Why would a business ever charge lower when the vast majority of people would pay higher.
Secondly, indeed, locals should have some privileges over tourists because it is their homeland. They own these places. It is their prerogative to pay less than tourists. You cannot blame them when they take advantages from their own objects.
Thirdly, tied to the previous argument, in many developing countries there is a reality that local peoples would not be able to enjoy their own monuments and parks if the price were set too high. Again, these attractive sites are needed a high maintenance cost. So, it is quite logical to charge premium from foreign visitors. My point is that in countries where the income gap between guests and host is huge, then asking international visitors to pay more to subsidize the system is not an unfair game.
To recapitulate, there prevails reality to demand more from tourists. I think dual price system is completely logical. Instead of showing separate price system in ads of these places, it should mention a discount for local people is my suggestion so that it does seem a sneaky way to fleece foreigners.