"Done" or "Having been done"

[xxwzs]

Take a look at the below:
1. Once ______ a difficult and even dangerous place to visit, it is now a friendly destination that welcomes visitors from all over the world.
A. considered B. having been considered
Though many of my colleagues treat A as the correct one, I insist on B. I exactly don't know how to explain.
So, what's your view? Thank you.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

I suppose B might be grammatical, but it's terribly convoluted, and for no apparent reason. No native English speaker would say it that way.

Choice A is clear and economical and works both as conversational and formal English.

 

[jutfrank]

I don't think you need both once and having been, together. They seem to have similar functions. That's why B doesn't sound good.

 

[xxwzs]

According to your opinion, I would like to make a comparision. Please take a look at the below two:
1. Once considered a difficult and even dangerous place to visit, it is now a friendly destination that welcomes visitors from all over the world.
2. Having been considered a difficult and even dangerous place to visit, it is now a friendly destination that welcomes visitors from all over the world.
Am I right? Thank you so much.

 

[Rover_KE]

I'd say you need a time marker in #2 after 'to visit', such as 'at one time'/'up to about five years ago'.

 

[xxwzs]

Thank you first!
I understand what you are talking about. You would like #2 to be written like below:
2. Having been considered a difficult and even dangerous place to visit before/at one time, it is now a friendly destination that welcomes visitors from all over the world.

However, let's be back to #1: there is also a time marker "​

Once​

" there, but why​

jtfraunk

suggested "considered" instead of "having been considered"?​

I treat "once", "before" and "at one time" all as time markers which mean that something happened in the past.
Pardon me for my stubbornness.

 

[jutfrank]

Try this answer: Once considered... sounds good because it follows a common language pattern of once + past participle. This pattern works especially well with verbs which report how people in general feel about something. Here are some more examples.

Once seen as...
Once said to be...
Once claimed to be...
Once thought of as...
Once believed to be...