LETTER | Why lose tourism benefits of ‘PE’ heritage?

It has been some time since the name of Port Elizabeth was changed to Gqeberha.

Many people have still not got used to the new name, let alone the spelling of it.

I appreciate that the early inhabitants of our region should be recognised but what about the people who built our city?

Had it not been for the early colonial settlers, Port Elizabeth would not exist.

Several buildings are of great historical value and should be recognised.

I mention City Hall, the Feather Market Centre, Main Library, St Mary’s Cathedral, St Augustine’s Cathedral, Fort Frederick, the Donkin Reserve, the Campanile, the Tramways Building, and many more historic buildings and places.

These were all built by the colonial settlers, so why should they not be recognised?

May I suggest Central be named as a suburb — namely “Port Elizabeth” — and be part of the Nelson Mandela Metro.

Officially, our harbour is named “Port Elizabeth Harbour” and this name cannot be changed as it is part of the international world navigation charts.

The same applies to our airport.

Look at your boarding pass and you will see the destination as PLZ (Port Elizabeth).

We have many international visitors arriving by ship and plane and if you mention Gqeberha, they have no idea of where you are talking about.

The tour was sold to them as Port Elizabeth, which has taken us many years to market as a tourist destination.

So now we call it Gqeberha and lose the interest of potential tourists.

New developments and buildings could be built and named after the early Khoi San people to give them recognition.

Willy de Jong