Please review my IELTS essay

Some people think that hosting an international sports event is good for the country, while some people think it is bad. Discuss both views and give your opinion.

Some people believe that the nation reaps substantial benefits from hosting an international sports event. Others think otherwise, claiming that being the host country of such events has harmful effects on itself. In my opinion, although the citizenry of the host country can benefit from improvements made in facilities and services preparatory for international events, its people and the environment can be negatively affected.

On the one hand, hosting a sports event that acquires a world-wide reputation can do ordinary citizens a service. Since such events have a substantial turnout, to meet visitors’ expectations and demand, transportation and public spaces of the host nation have to be improved. And it is nobody other than its people that benefit from such improvements after the events culminate. For example, to cater for the influx of tourists to Beijing, China for the Olympic 2008, a third airport terminal was constructed, the 120 km Tianjin intercity railway running high-speed trains (350km/hour) was opened, and the capacity of the subway network was doubled. These improvements did make life more convenient for the Chinese as they did not have to suffer the stop-and-go traffic as frequently as before.

On the other hand, being the host of events gaining international recognition is not without disadvantages. When an incessant influx of tourists come to the host country, the environment there and the daily routines of local people inevitably have to suffer. The Beijing Olympics 2008 is, again, a salient example. The injection of foreign visitors overcrowded Beijing, an already jam-packed city (21.2 million people in 2008). The concomitant problems such as pollution, issues of crowding in shops and streets, traffic congestion, and parking problems had a negative impact on the daily routines of the locals and hampered successful tourism which hinged purely on the goodwill and support of the local residents.

In conclusion, although hosting an international sports event is advantageous for the lives of citizens of the host country after the event through improvements made in public facilities, the daily lives of local people and the environment during the event are adversely impacted. Nonetheless, I believe that the benefits to be attained from hosting such events are weightier.