IELTS Academic Writing Task 1/ Graph Writing – Table + Column Graph:
»You should spend about 20 minutes on this task.
The first chart below shows the results of a survey which sampled a cross-section of 100,000 people asking if they traveled abroad and why they traveled for the period 1994-98. The second chart shows their destinations over the same period.
Write a report for a university lecturer describing the information shown below.
»You should write not less than 150 words.
VISITS ABROAD BY UK RESIDENTS BY PURPOSE OF VISIT (1994-98) | |||||
1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | |
Holiday | 15,246 | 14,898 | 17,896 | 19,703 | 20,700 |
Business | 3,155 | 3,188 | 3,249 | 3,639 | 3,957 |
Visits to friends & relatives | 2,689 | 2,628 | 2,774 | 3,051 | 3,181 |
Other reasons | 982 | 896 | 1,030 | 1,054 | 990 |
TOTAL | 22,072 | 21,610 | 24,949 | 27,447 | 28,828 |

Model Answer 1:
The given table compares the figures of a research on why 100 thousand of the UK residents visited overseas from 1994 to 1998, and the given bar chart illustrates which countries they travelled during this time.
As a whole, the majority of the UK citizens travelled abroad for entertainment, and Western Europe was their most favourable destination. By looking at the table, it can be seen that generally there was a growing tendency for the UK people to travel into other countries from 1994 to 1998. During the second year, in 1995, the total number of travellers marginally declined from just over 22000 to nearly 21500; however, it steadily grew and reached the peak of approximately 29000 in the year 1998.
These people gradually became more interested in traveling to all three regions during this period, but Western Europe was the best option. In 1994, just below 20,000 of the UK citizens went into Western Europe, compared with only almost 1000 into the North America. Furthermore, after a small drop in 1995, the population of Western Europe visitors remarkably increased and reached the maximum of above 24000 in 1998, which was far more significant than the other two locations.
In conclusion, the most proportion of the UK citizens had a trip to Western Europe to spend their holidays and for business trips.
Sample Answer 2:
The provided charts show the data of a survey conducted on 100,000 people and the statistics shows the number of UK citizen travelled abroad during 1994 to 1998 for different purposes and their destinations. As is observed from the given graphs, most of the UK residents travelled on their holidays and Western Europe was their most favourite destination.
Initially, in 1994, more than 22 thousand UK resident traveled different foreign countries and among them, more than 15 thousand went on their holidays. For business tours, more than 3 thousand people travelled in other countries in the same year while more than 2 thousand people visited their friends and relatives. After 1 year, this number slightly decreased and for the rest of the years until 1998, the number steadily increased in almost all of the categories. Finally, in 1998, the total traveler number reached to more than 28 thousand and among them, more than twenty thousand people travelled to enjoy their holidays.
In 1994, almost 18 thousand people out of 22 thousand went to Western Europe which is significantly larger than the number of people traveled to North America and other parts of the world. The similar trends can be observed for the remaining years and the majority people of the UK went to Western Europe which makes this place the most popular tourist’s destination of UK people.