Make city attractive to tourists

ON a recent sea voyage I undertook I was impressed by the cleanliness of the ports we visited, and all the unpaid friendly volunteers who met us when we disembarked and dotted round the towns to guide visitors.

Port Elizabeth was our first port of call and it was interesting to get feedback without anyone knowing it was my home town.

Being involved in the tourism industry myself, I naturally tried to persuade passengers to return to our shores and visit for a longer period.

The standard answer was, “It is a beautiful country but crime.” No getting away from it – I could not deny it. Those passengers who visited a local game park immensely enjoyed their trip but, I am sorry to say, the impression gained of our city was not good.

In fact, I even overheard someone describe it as “a sad place”.

I tried to explain that we had a new party in power and it was doing its best to improve matters as we did not have good management of the city in the past.

However, on my return, I am saddened to learn that this situation could change because of the political whims of certain individuals.

Every country I visited was extremely clean, historical buildings well preserved and citizens obviously proud of their city and country.

Why do we have such a culture of treating our country like a big dirt bin and, it would seem, sadly, that our national pride seems to have taken a serious knock.

The passenger ships calling here provide a huge economic boost to the area and we need to capitalise on these visits fully to benefit the city. Politicians, please, let us forge ahead and build our city to be a great destination – tourism is the way forward!

Ever hopeful, Summerstrand, Port Elizabeth