Total tourism income for the Ndlambe municipal area would drop by 6% should the names of Port Alfred, Bushmans River and Alexandria change, and everyone in the area would be collectively shouldering a massive R157-million cost: that’s the prediction of Sunshine Coast Tourism (SCT), who ran an artificial intelligence simulation to predict the potential cost of name-changing on the Sunshine Coast.
Sunshine Coast Tourism is the official destination marketing organisation of the Ndlambe municipal area. In a statement issued at the end of last week, the organisation said its position was is “to focus solely on the consequences of a name change from a business and tourism perspective, whilst steering away from ideological discussions”.
SCT framed their position in the context of the brand reputation of the area and the predicted economic consequences of potential name changes. They also suggested alternatives to make the area’s local identity more inclusive.
The Eastern Cape Provincial Geographical Names Committee (ECPGNC) put the cat among the pigeons when it called a stakeholder meeting for August 6 on proposals to change the names of three geographical features in the Ndlambe municipal area. The proposed changes are Alexandria to Nkosi Chungwa; Alexandria to Emnyameni; Port Alfred to iCoyi or iCawa; the Kowie River to iQoyi.
A fourth name change was mooted in the heated August 6 meeting in the Port Alfred Civic Centre: there and then, the call by Councillor Xolisa Runeli for the name of Bushman’s River to be changed was accepted by ECPGNC chairperson Christian Martin as an application.
Since that meeting, Talk of the Town has reported on a coalition of organisations called Keep Port Alfred and Alexandria; the demand from Alexandria Business and Tourism that any discussions about a change to that town’s name should take place there; and a detailed explanation by historian Jeff Peires of the origins of the proposed names.
In a July 29 statement, Ndlambe’s tourism and business leadership said they feared a name change could undermine years of effort to build the local brand.
“We recognise the importance of transformation and inclusivity in South Africa’s heritage landscape. However, we strongly believe that any process to review or rename our region’s geographical features must be consultative, transparent, and carefully balance historical legacies with the need to protect the economic and tourism interests tied to these names,” said the statement signed by Sunshine Coast Tourism chair Wouter Hensens, Port Alfred Business Forum chair Clinton Millard and Kenton Boesmans Chamber of Business and Tourism head Justin Wilmot.
“As the official destination marketing organisation for the Sunshine Coast, our geographical names are not mere labels—they are at the heart of our brand identity…. The possible disruption to our brand equity, tourism marketing strategies, and the economic well-being of the region’s communities cannot be understated,” they said.
Now, they believe they have backed up their claim with preliminary research that uses AI to simulate and predict various scenarios. Describing their method, they explain that they have used online data from studies into the cost of name changing internationally as well as search engine data from regional destinations, including Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth) and Makhanda (Grahamstown). In their simulation they predicted that three towns would change their names: Port Alfred, Boesmans/ Bushmans RIver and Alexandria.
Here is a breakdown of the cost they estimate for changing those three names:
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R3 million per town for Ndlambe Municipality to change signs, maps, and documentation
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R3 million in destination rebranding and rebuilding for the Sunshine Coast
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R22 million for direct rebranding of businesses in the three towns. Explaining this, SCT says, “Businesses in our towns would need to update their names on signage, stationery, websites, and marketing materials. Branding agency costs for South African small businesses typically range from R35,000 to R100,000.” They used a conservative estimate of R50,000 per business and worked with 300 businesses in Port Alfred, 100 businesses in Alexandria, and 40 businesses in Boesmans.
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R123 million in lost revenue (based on an average business turnover of R2 million by 440 business at R280 000 per business). This, SCT says, is due to the loss of search engine optimisation and digital identity. “When renowned towns change their names, businesses suffer a temporary but significant drop in digital search rankings. This affects both destination branding and individual businesses’ online visibility, reducing potential tourist and customer traffic for months…. Based on common impacts and considering the strong tourism nature of our businesses, a 14% drop in annual revenue may be expected.
They summarise the total cost as follows:
Public cost for Ndlambe: R 9 million
Public cost for SCT: R 3 million
Cost to local businesses: R 145 million
Total cost: R 157 million
This R157 million aligns closely to the losses predicted when using macro-economic data from
Referring to Ndlambe’s Integrated Development Plan 2022-2027 that outlines a total tourism spend in Ndlambe of R 2.45 billion in 2023, SCT says the R 145 million loss to local business amounts to a six percent drop in total tourism income.
“Revenue loss for businesses affects the community. We can expect business owners to cut expenses following lower revenues and this in turn affects local purchasing and employment opportunities for our community. In short, we all pay the price.”
While rejecting the name changes of towns, SCT said they were open to exploring with the wider community ways to celebrate the area’s joint heritage more broadly and inclusively.
One solution, they propose, is to introduce a dual naming system for the towns. Providing examples from Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the USA and Norway, they say two names are officially used to enhance recognisability and celebrate local cultural or indigenous heritage.
In this system, a road sign for what is currently known as Port Alfred would say, ‘Port Alfred /iCoyi’.
SCT urged its members and residents to be respectful and not let the process divide the community.
“We believe there are solutions and that we can find these together.”
Because of the short notice and other questions about the process, the ECPGNC reframed what had been advertised as a stakeholders meeting on August 6 as a preliminary information meeting.
The next name-change meeting organised by the ECPGNC is in the Port Alfred Civic Centre on September 10 at 10am and is advertised as a stakeholders meeting.
- This article was first published in Talk of the Town, August 28, 2025. The newspaper serving the communities of Ndlambe and the Sunshine Coast, with a weekly wrap of Makhanda news, is available at stores from early on Thursdays
