The Impact of Wilderness Tourism

A The market for tourism In remote areas is booming as never before. Countries ail across the world
are actively promoting their ‘wilderness’ regions - such as mountains, Arctic lands, deserts, small
islands and wetlands - to high-spending tourists. The attraction of these areas is obvious.- by
definition, wilderness tourism requires little or no initial investment. But that does not mean that there
is no cost. As the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development recognized,
these regions are fragile (i.e. highly vulnerable to abnormal pressures) not just in terms of their
ecology, but also in terms of the culture of their inhabitants. The three most significant types of fragile
environment in these respects, and also in terms of the proportion of the Earth's surface they cover, are
deserts, mountains and Arctic areas. An important characteristic is their marked seasonality, with
harsh conditions prevailing for many months each year. Consequently, most human activities,
including tourism, are limited to quite clearly defined parts of the year.

Tourists are drawn to these regions by their natural landscape beauty and the unique cultures of their
indigenous people. And poor governments in these isolated areas have welcomed the new breed of
‘adventure tourist’, grateful for the hard currency they bring. For several years now, tourism has been
the prime source of foreign exchange in Nepal and Bhutan. Tourism is also a key element in the
economies of Arctic zones such as Lapland and Alaska and in desert areas such as Ayers Rock in
Australia and Arizona’s Monument Valley.

B Once a location is established as a main tourist destination, the effects on the local community are
profound. When hill-farmers, for example, can make more money in a few weeks working as porters
for foreign trekkers than they can in a year working in their fields, it is not surprising that many of
them give up their farm-work, which is thus left to other members of the family. In some hill-regions,
this has led to a serious decline in farm output and a change in the local diet, because there is
insufficient labour to maintain terraces and irrigation systems and tend to crops. The result has been
that many people in these regions have turned to outside supplies of rice and other foods.

In Arctic and desert societies, year-round survival has traditionally depended on hunting animals and
fish and collecting fruit over a relatively short season. However, as some inhabitants become Involved
in tourism, they no longer have time to collect wild food; this has led to increasing dependence on
bought food and stores. Tourism is not always the culprit behind such changes. All kinds of wage
labour, or government handouts, tend to undermine traditional survival systems. Whatever the cause,
the dilemma is always the same: what happens If these new, external sources of income dry up?

The physical impact of visitors is another serious problem associated with the growth In adventure
tourism. Much attention has focused on erosion along major trails, but perhaps more important are the
deforestation and impacts on water supplies arising from the need to provide tourists with cooked food
and hot showers. In both mountains and deserts, slow-growing trees are often the main sources of fuel
and water supplies may be limited or vulnerable to degradation through heavy use.

C Stories about the problems of tourism have become legion in the last few years. Yet it does not have
to be a problem. Although tourism inevitably affects the region in which it takes place, the costs to
these fragile environments and their local cultures can be minimized. Indeed, it can even be a vehicle
for reinvigorating local cultures, as has happened with the Sherpas of Nepal’s Khumbu Valley and in
some Alpine villages. And a growing number of adventure tourism operators are trying to ensure that
their activities benefit the local population and environment over the long term.
In the Swiss Alps, communities have decided that their future depends on integrating tourism more
effectively with the local economy. Local concern about the rising number of second home
developments in the Swiss Pays d'Enhaut resulted in limits being imposed on their growth. There has
also been a renaissance in communal cheese production In the area, providing the locals with a reliable
source of income that does not depend on outside visitors.

Many of the Arctic tourist destinations have been exploited by outside companies, who employ
transient workers and repatriate most of the profits to their home base. But some Arctic communities
are now operating tour businesses themselves, thereby ensuring that the benefits accrue locally. For
instance, a native corporation in Alaska, employing local people. Is running an air tour from
Anchorage to Kotzebue, where tourists eat Arctic food, walk on the tundra and watch local musicians
and dancers.

Native people In the desert regions of the American Southwest have followed similar strategies,
encouraging tourists to visit their pueblos and reservations to purchase high-quality handicrafts and
artwork. The Acoma and San lldefonso pueblos have established highly profitable pottery businesses,
while the Navajo and Hopi groups have been similarly successful with jewellery.

Too many people living in fragile environments have lost control over their economies, their culture
and their environment when tourism has penetrated their homelands. Merely restricting tourism cannot
be the solution to the imbalance, because people's desire to see new places will not just disappear.
Instead, communities in fragile environments must achieve greater control over tourism ventures in
their regions, in order to balance their needs and aspirations with the demands of tourism. A growing
number of communities are demonstrating that, with firm communal decision-making, this is possible.
The critical question now is whether this can become the norm, rather than the exception.

Questions 1-3
Reading Passage has three sections, A-C.
Choose the correct heading for each section from the list of headings below.
Write the correct number i-vi in boxes 1-3 on your answer sheet.

List of Headings

i The expansion of international tourism in recent years

How local communities can balance their own needs with the demands of wilderness
ii
tourism

ii
Fragile regions and the reasons for the expansion of tourism there
i

iv Traditional methods of food-supply in fragile regions

v Some of the disruptive effects of wilderness tourism

 
1. Section A 2. Section B 3. Section C
Questions 4-9
Do the following statements reflect the opinion of the writer of Reading Passage?
In boxes 4-9 on your answer sheet, write
YES if the statement reflects the opinion of the writer
NO if the statement contradicts the opinion of the writer
NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
4. The low financial cost of selling up wilderness tourism makes it attractive to many countries.
5. Deserts, mountains and Arctic regions are examples of environments that are both ecologically and
culturally fragile.
6. Wilderness tourism operates throughout the year in fragile areas.
7. The spread of tourism in certain hill-regions has resulted in a fall in the amount of food produced
locally.
8. Traditional food-gathering in desert societies was distributed evenly over the year.
9. Government handouts do more damage than tourism does to traditional patterns of food-gathering.
Questions 10-13: Complete the table below.
Choose ONE WORD from Reading Passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 10-13 on your answer sheet.

The positive ways In which some local communities have

People/Location Activity

Swiss Pays d'Enhaut Revived production of 10_______

White mountain, green tourism

A The town of Chamonix-Mont-Blanc sits in a valley at 1,035 metres above sea level in the Haute-
Savoie department in south-eastern France. To the northwest are the red peaks of the Aiguilles
Rouges massif; to the south-east are the permanently white peaks of Mont Blanc, which at 4,810
metres is the highest mountain in the Alps. It’s a typical Alpine environment, but one that is under
increasing strain from the hustle and bustle of human activity.

B Tourism is Chamonix’s lifeblood. Visitors have been encouraged to visit the valley ever since it was
discovered by explorers in 1741. Over 40 years later, in 1786,

Mont Blanc’s summit was finally reached by a French doctor and his guide, and this gave birth to the
sport of alpinism, with Chamonix at its centre. In 1924, it hosted the first Winter Olympics, and the
cable cars and lifts that were built in the years that followed gave everyone access to the ski slopes.

C Today, Chamonix is a modern town, connected to the outside world via the Mont Blanc Road
Tunnel and a busy highway network. It receives up to 60,000 visitors at a time during the ski season,
and climbers, hikers and extreme-sports enthusiasts swarm there in the summer in even greater
numbers, swelling the town’s population to 100,000. It is the third most visited natural site in the
world, according to Chamonix’s Tourism Office and, last year, it had 5.2 million visitor bed nights -
all this in a town with fewer than 10,000 permanent inhabitants.

D  This influx of tourists has put the local environment under severe pressure, and the authorities in
the valley have decided to take action. Educating visitors is vital. Tourists are warned not to drop
rubbish, and there are now recycling points dotted all around the valley, from the town centre to
halfway up the mountains. An internet blog reports environmental news in the town, and the ‘green’
message is delivered with all the tourist office’s activities.

E Low-carbon initiatives are also important for the region. France is committed to reducing its carbon
emissions by a factor of four by 2050. Central to achieving this aim is a strategy that encourages
communities to identify their carbon emissions on a local level and make plans to reduce them.
Studies have identified that accommodation accounts for half of all carbon emissions in the Chamonix
valley. Hotels are known to be inefficient operations, but those around Chamonix are now cleaning up
their act. Some are using low-energy lighting, restricting water use and making recycling bins
available for guests; others have invested in huge projects such as furnishing and decorating using
locally sourced materials, using geothermal energy for heating and installing solar panels.

F Chamonix’s council is encouraging the use of renewable energy in private properties too, by making
funds available for green renovations and new constructions. At the same time, public- sector
buildings have also undergone improvements to make them more energy efficient and less wasteful.
For example, the local ice rink has reduced its annual water consumption from 140,000 cubic metres
to 10,000 cubic metres in the space of three years.

G Improving public transport is another feature of the new policy, as 80 percent of carbon emissions
from transport used to come from private vehicles. While the Mont Blanc Express is an ideal way to
travel within the valley - and see some incredible scenery along the route - it is much more difficult to
arrive in Chamonix from outside by rail. There is no direct line from the closest airport in Geneva, so
tourists arriving by air normally transfer by car or bus. However, at a cost of 3.3 million euros a year,
Chamonix has introduced a free shuttle service in order to get people out of their cars and into buses
fitted with particle filters.

H If the valley’s visitors and residents want to know why they need to reduce their environmental
impact, they just have to look up; the effects of climate change are there for everyone to see in the
melting glaciers that cling to the mountains. The fragility of the Alpine environment has long been a
concern among local people. Today, 70 percent of the 805 square kilometres that comprise Chamonix-
Mont-Blanc is protected in some way. But now, the impact of tourism has led the authorities to
recognise that more must be done if the valley is to remain prosperous: that they must not only protect
the natural environment better, but also manage the numbers of visitors better, so that its residents can
happily remain there.

Questions 1-5 Reading Passage 2 has eight paragraphs, A-H.

Which paragraph contains the following information? You may use any letter more than once.

1. a list of the type of people who enjoy going to Chamonix

2. reference to a system that is changing the way visitors reach Chamonix

3. the geographical location of Chamonix

4. mention of the need to control the large tourist population in Chamonix

5. reference to a national environmental target

Questions 1-5
Reading Passage 2 has eight paragraphs, A-H.
Which paragraph contains the following information? You may use any letter more than once.
1. a list of the type of people who enjoy going to Chamonix
2. reference to a system that is changing the way visitors reach Chamonix
3. the geographical location of Chamonix
4. mention of the need to control the large tourist population in Chamonix
5.  reference to a national environmental target
Questions 6-7
Choose TWO letters, A-E.
The writer mentions several ways that the authorities aim to educate tourists in Chamonix.
Which TWO of the following ways are mentioned?
A . giving instructions about litter  C. handing out leaflets in the town 
B . imposing fines on people who drop litter  D. operating a web-based information service 
E. having a paper-free tourist office
Questions 8-9
Choose TWO letters, A-E.
The writer mentions several ways that hotels are reducing their carbon emissions.
Which TWO of the following ways are mentioned?
A   using natural cleaning materials  D   providing places for rubbish 
B   recycling water  E   harnessing energy from the sun
C   limiting guest numbers 
Questions 10-13 : Complete the sentences below.
Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.
10     The first people to discover the Chamonix valley were ________
11     Chamonix’s busiest tourist season is the ________
12     Public areas, such as the________in Chamonix, are using fewer resources.
13     The________on the mountains around Chamonix provide visual evidence of global warming.
The politics of pessimism

Newspaper headlines and TV or radio news bulletins would have us believe erroneously that a new
age has come upon us, the Age of Cassandra. People are being assailed not just with contemporary
doom, or past gloom, but with prophecies of disasters about to befall. The dawn of the new
millennium has now passed; the earth is still intact, and the fin de siècle Jeremiahs have now gone off
to configure a new date for the apocalypse.

It can, I believe, be said with some certainty that the doom-mongers will never run out of business.
Human nature has an inclination for pessimism and anxiety, with each age having its demagogues,
foretelling doom or dragging it in their wake. But what makes the modern age so different is that the
catastrophes are more “in your face”, Their assault on our senses is relentless. Whether it be sub-
conscious or not, this is a situation not lost on politicians. They play upon people’s propensity for
unease, turning it into a very effective political tool.

Deluding the general public

All too often, when politicians want to change the status quo, they take advantage of people’s fears of
the unknown and their uncertainties about the future. For example, details about a new policy may be
leaked to the press. Of course, tbe worst case scenario is presented in all its depressing detail. When
the general public reacts in horror, the government appears to cave in. And then accepting some of the
suggestions from their critics, ministers water down their proposals. This allows the government to get
what It wants, while at the same time fooling the public into believing that they have got one over on
the government. Or even that they have some say in the making of policy.,
There are several principles at play here. And both are rather simple: unsettle people and then play on
their fears; and second, people must be given an opportunity to make a contribution, howevser
insignificant, in a given situation; otherwise, they become dissatisfied, not fearful or anxious.

A similar ruse, at a local level, will further illustrate how easily people’s base fears are exploited. A
common practice is to give people a number of options, say in a housing development, ranging from
no change to radical transformation of an area. The aim is to persuade people to agree significant
modifications, which may involve disruption to their lives, and possibly extra expenditure. The
individuals, fearful of the worst possible outcome, plump for the middle course. And this, incidentally,
Is Invariably the option favoured by the authorities. Everything is achieved under the guise of market
research, But It is obviously a blatant exercise in the manipulation of people’s fears.

Fear and survival

Fear and anxieties about the future affect us till. People are wracked with self-doubt and low self-
esteem. In the struggle to exist and advance in life, a seemingly endless string, of obstacles is
encountered, so ninny, in fact, that any accomplishment seems surprising. Even when people do
succeed they are still nagged by uncertainty,

Not surprisingly, feelings like doubt, fear, anxiety and pessimism are usually associated with failure.
Yet, if properly harnessed, they are the driving force behind success, the very engines of genius.

If things turn out well for a long time, there is a further anxiety: that of constantly waiting for
something to go wrong. People then find themselves propitiating the gods: not walking on lines on the
pavements, performing rituals before public performances, wearing particular clothes and colours so
that they can blame the ritual not themselves when things go wrong,

But surely the real terror cornea when success continues uninterrupted for such a long period of time
that we forget what failure is like I

We crave for and are fed a daily diet of anxiety, Horror films and disaster movies have an increasing
appeal. Nostradamus pops his head up now and again, And other would-be prophets make a brief
appearance, predicting the demise of human kind. Perhaps h this is all just a vestige of the hardships of
early man – our attempt to recreate the struggles of a past age, as life becomes mure and more
comfortable.

Mankind cannot live by con tent meni alone. And so, a world awash with anxieties and pessimism has
been created. Being optimistic is a struggle. But survival dictates that mankind remain ever sanguine.

Questions 1-5
Choose one phrase (A-K) from the List of phrases to complete each Key point below. Write the
appropriate letters (A-K) in Boxes 1-5 on your answer sheet.
The information in the completed sentences should be an accurate summary of the points made by the
writer.
NB. There are more phrases (A-K) than sentences, so you wilt not need to use them all. You may use
each phrase once only.
1. Newspaper headlines and TV or radio news 3. Today, catastrophes
bulletins
4. To politicians, people’s Inclination for fear 
2. Doom-mongers are popular, because people 
5. The government 
List of phrases
A are not as threatening as In the past F are uncertain about the future 
B tell the truth G are less comfortable
C blame them H are natural pessimists and worriers
D try to make us believe mistakenly that we are I are more Immediate
In a new era
J get what they want by deceiving the public
E calm people down
K is something they can make use of
Questions 6-9
Choose the appropriate letters A-D and write them in boxes 6-9 on your answer sheet.
6. The housing development example shows that people …
A  are not that easily deceived C  lead their fears
B  like market research D  are easy to delude 
7. Which one of the following statements is true, according to the passage?
A  Market research uses people’s fears for their C  Market research techniques are used as a
own good means of taking advantage of people’s fears
B  People are scared by market research D  Market research makes people happy 
techniques
8. The engines of genius are …
A  properly harnessed C  driven by feelings like fear
B  the driving force behind success D  usually associated with failure 
9. Continual success …
A  makes people arrogant C  does not have any negative effects on people
B  worries people D  increases people’s self-esteem 
Questions 10-13
Do the statements below agree with the information in Reading Passage 1?
In Boxes 10-13, write:
YES      if the statement agrees with the information in the passage
NO       if the statement contradicts the information in the passage
NOT GIVEN if there is no information about the statement in the passage
10  The complex relationship between failure and success needs to be addressed carefully.
11   People perform certain rituals to try to avoid failure.
12   Anxiety in daily life is what we want.
13   The writer believes that Nostradamus and certain other prophets are right about their predictions
for the end of the human race.