Your English: Collocations: tours, tourists and tourism

Mid-summer in the UK is normally the height of the tourist season. At weekends, London, in particular, is swarming with tourists and certain areas of the city such as Oxford Street and Covent Garden are thronged with visitors. Other cities, notably Canterbury, Oxford and Cambridge, are also overrun with tourists, many of whom participate in guided tours around their respective destinations.

Various aspects of British life attract tourists. For example, Stratford-upon-Avon, with its strong historical associations with Shakespeare, brings in tourists from around the world. Other tourist destinations, magnets or hotspots in the UK include Bath, Edinburgh and Brighton.

If you only have a few days to spare, it is possible to organise a whirlwind tour of the UK and visit all of the aforementioned places. If you have more time, on the other hand, you could take an extended tour or a leisurely tour. For many visitors, the tourist trail normally begins and ends in London and big events, in particular, boost tourism still further.

However, a countries’ bad economic situation can affect tourism and many in the tourism sector then attempt to expand their businesses into other forms of tourism such as eco-tourism and green tourism, offering holidays in Indian tepees in the mountains or wooden cabins in the middle of forests.

In this computer-driven age, however, it is quite possible to indulge in the ultimate in ethical tourism and stay at home. There you can enjoy a virtual tour, or even an interactive tour, of your chosen destination.