Reading on travel and tourism: the bac chain with a « pick out two » item

I. READING COMPREHENSION. Read the text below carefully, then answer the questions that follow it.

1. Ten years ago, Vallora was a fishing village of 900 people that most holiday guides did not even mention. Then a photograph of its pink-and-yellow harbour went viral, and everything changed. Last August, as many as 12,000 visitors a day squeezed into its narrow streets, most of them day-trippers from cruise ships and coaches who stayed for three hours, took the same picture from the same wall and left. "They came to see a fishing village," says Marta Leone, who runs the café her grandmother opened, "and by the end of the summer there were hardly any fishermen left to see."

2. The problems piled up quickly. Rents rose so sharply that young families could no longer afford to live in the old town, and many houses were turned into holiday flats. The only grocery shop closed and was replaced by a souvenir stall. Water had to be brought in by lorry during the hottest weeks, and the single road to the village was blocked by coaches for hours every morning. At the same time, local shopkeepers admit that the money was real: the café's income tripled in three summers.

3. This spring, the village council decided that something had to change. From June, no more than 4,000 day visitors will be allowed in each day, and they must book a free time slot online. Visitors who stay at least one night in the village will not need a booking. Cruise passengers will pay an entry fee of five euros, and the council has promised to spend the money on a new water pipe and on cheaper homes for local families. Coaches will have to park two kilometres away, at a car park linked to the harbour by an electric shuttle bus.

4. Not everyone is happy. Some shop owners fear that the limit will drive travellers to other villages along the coast, and a cruise company has warned that it may drop Vallora from its route. Marta is not worried. "We are not closing the door," she insists. "We are asking people to come in a different way — to stay a night, to eat a fish that was caught here, to talk to us. Tourism should be something we live with, not something we escape from." Other villages facing the same crowds are watching closely.

Practice text written in the style of the adapted press articles of the bac papers.

COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS

1. Tick (✓) the most appropriate option. (1 mark)

The text is mainly about a village that

a- wants to attract more cruise passengers.

b- is trying to control the number of its visitors.

c- has decided to close its doors to tourists.

2. For each of the following statements, pick out ONE detail from the text showing that it is FALSE. (4 marks)

a. Most visitors to Vallora spent several days in the village. (parag. 1)

b. The crowds brought no money to the village. (parag. 2)

c. From June, every visitor to Vallora will have to book a time slot. (parag. 3)

d. Everybody in Vallora supports the new limit. (parag. 4)

3. Focus on paragraph 3 and pick out the TWO things the council has promised to pay for with the cruise passengers' entry fee. (2 marks)

a. ______________________________

b. ______________________________

4. Find words / expressions in the text meaning nearly the same as: (2 marks)

a. spread very fast on the internet (parag. 1): ____________

b. increased in number, one after another (parag. 2): ____________

5. What do the underlined words in the text refer to? (2 marks)

a. "They" (parag. 1): ____________

b. "it" (parag. 4): ____________

6. Give a personal justified answer to the following question. (1 mark)

Would you support a daily limit on visitors at a crowded Tunisian site such as Sidi Bou Said? Why? Why not?

I ____________ support a daily limit on visitors because ____________.