XV. Read the general description of tourist destinations paying special attention to the word combinations in bold type and their meaning.

For tourists yearning to escape the crowd¹, wander off the beaten track² and get back to nature³, Suriname increasingly looks a promising choice⁴. Nobody in Suriname claims that the country boasts⁵ the best sand, sea and sun in the Caribbean. But that, in a way, is precisely the point: there aren't hoards⁶ of people either.

As Henk Essed, director of the Suriname Tourism Foundation, observes: We don't really need masses of tourists like we have in the rest of the Caribbean. Instead, Suriname’s modest tourism sector⁷ focuses on what makes the country different. The biggest attraction for visitors seeking something out of the ordinary⁸ is the wealth of⁹ wildlife. Large tracts¹⁰ of the country are still covered by virgin¹¹ rainforest, home to a huge range of flora and fauna¹².

There is great potential to develop eco-tourism¹³ as one of the major sources of income in the near future, says Harold Sijlbing, managing director of Stinasu, an organisation which promotes conservation of wildlife and ecological awareness.

¹ go where there are not many people

² go to places tourists don't normally go

³ live a natural, rural style of life

⁴ a choice which could be a very good one

⁵ this use of boast is for listing the good qualities of a place (formal)

⁶ crowds, in a negative sense

⁷ tourist industry (formal)

⁸ common collocation: looking for something different / unusual

⁹ large amount of (formal)

¹⁰ areas of land, collocates with large, vast, huge

¹¹ original and natural

¹² plants and animals (Latin); a fixed phrase

¹³ holidays that respect the environment

1. Complete the expressions and collocations in these sentences, using words from the text above.

1. Malaysia...........................................some of the loveliest beaches in Asia.

2. The tourism...........................................is very important to the economies of many developing countries.

3. It is vital that tourism should not damage the flora and...........................................of beautiful areas of wildlife.

4. Most tourists like to feel free to ....................................off the...........................................track.

5. Nobody likes to travel to a place where there will be...........................................of other tourists.

6. People who spend all their time in big cities often like to...........................................back to ..................................... when they go away for a holiday.

7. If you're...........................................something out of the...........................................why not try a snowboarding holiday? It's certainly different!

8. When I travel I always try to..........................................the crowd and find somewhere quiet.

9. There are vast...........................................of unspoilt land in the north of the country, with ................................…….... rainforests and a...........................................of wildlife.

10) We've studied the brochures and Tasmania looks a ....................................... choice for this year.