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Exam guide & reading text

C2 Paper 08 — Essay: Read the two texts about managing tourism in heavily visited places — Writing

"C2 Paper 08 — Essay: Read the two texts about managing tourism in heavily visited places" is a C2 Proficiency Writing practice task (Essay). Cambridge assesses content, communicative achievement, organisation and language on a scale from 0 to 5 per criterion. Plan before you write: identify the target reader, the required register and the number of points you must address. At C2, examiners expect sophisticated vocabulary used accurately, varied sentence structures and clear paragraphing.

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How should I approach this C2 writing task?

Plan the Essay before writing, address every prompt point, keep the expected register, respect the word limit, and use feedback to improve content, organisation, grammar range, and vocabulary precision.

Task prompt

Write an essay summarising and evaluating the key points in both texts. Integrate the arguments rather than discussing the texts separately, and use your own ideas to determine which combinations of management, pricing and restriction can protect places without making travel unfair.

Word limit: 280 words

Input texts

Limits Protect the Experience

When visitor numbers exceed what a place can absorb, the damage is not confined to crowded streets. Housing shifts towards short stays, local services change to serve transient demand, and residents lose confidence that public space belongs to them. Authorities should therefore be willing to cap access, regulate accommodation and charge prices that reflect environmental and civic costs. Such measures may appear exclusionary, but unlimited access already excludes people by degrading the place and displacing its community. The goal is not to preserve destinations for a privileged few, but to keep them liveable enough to remain worth visiting.

Management Before Restriction

Visitor pressure is often concentrated in a few streets, seasons and famous sites while nearby communities receive little benefit. Before limiting travel, destinations should improve transport, promote longer stays and distribute cultural attractions more intelligently. Reservation systems and real-time information can redirect demand without making access dependent on wealth. Restrictions also risk protecting convenient versions of local identity while denying residents opportunities created by tourism. Some limits may be necessary in fragile locations, but they should follow serious investment in management and be reviewed openly, rather than becoming a simple response to political frustration with outsiders.

Assessment criteria

  • Content: All points addressed with relevant detail and examples.
  • Communicative achievement: Appropriate register and tone for the target reader.
  • Organisation: Clear paragraphing with cohesive devices linking ideas.
  • Language: Wide range of vocabulary and structures used with control and accuracy.