Drownings at holiday hotspots raise calls for tourism marketing re-think

A spate of drownings at remote West Australian beaches has sparked calls for the state’s tourism campaigns to include warnings of the picturesque locations’ inherent dangers.
Four people have drowned at beaches near Esperance, Walpole, and Bremer Bay on the state’s southern coast since Christmas — all at locations locals say are notorious for rips and strong currents.
Experts now say the millions of dollars spent promoting the stunning scenery to tourists fail to warn of the potential risks posed by swimming at the beaches.
Masaki Shibata says the meaning of warnings can shift in different languages. (Supplied: Masaki Shibata)
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People dying in the water
Masaki Shibata is a lifesaver in Sydney and a linguist at Monash University.
While many Australians grow up around water, Dr Shibata said it was not always the case for other nationalities.
“When I became a lifesaver I had to take the bronze medallion course and the trainer explained the wave motions. I actually didn’t know a couple of words,” he said.
“I didn’t know what a sandbank was, so I had to raise my hand and ask.
“When you translate ‘swim between the flags’ in Japanese it means that you have to swim between the flags if you can swim well. If you can’t swim well, you must swim outside of the flags.”
Signage clear to Australians may not translate to non-English speakers. (ABC Great Southern: Anna Cox)
Dr Shibata said international tourists were encouraged to visit Australia’s “beautiful beaches” but they were not being warned of the dangers.
“We do need to tell people that people do die in the water in Australia,” he said.
“We do need to deliver that message, and it’s not just deaths, but also how many people are actually about to die and are being rescued.”
Matt Elliott runs classes to familiarise new migrants with beach safety. (ABC Great Southern: Anna Cox)
Surf school in session
The gulf in coastal awareness has spurned the creation of beach and surf schools directly targeting newly arrived migrants.
Fremantle Surf Life Saving Club captain Matt Elliott has run beach safety classes in the port city for a decade.
“We’re educating them to look at the beach, understand if it’s dangerous or not, and if there is a patrol there, you need to swim there,” he said.
The Fremantle club has run the migrant beach safety program for a decade. (ABC Great Southern: Anna Cox)
The classes are now being provided to several schools, but Mr Elliott said adults with limited English faced risks when visiting non-patrolled beaches.
“These people are exploring our beautiful countryside and going to places they haven’t seen before,” he said.
“They may not know how to swim, so they think they can swim close to shore and be safe, but they need to know that they can be quite dangerous.”
Every beach can contain different sorts of hazards. (ABC Great Southern: Andrew Chounding)
Push to promote dangers
In response to questions about including warnings in future tourism campaigns, a state government spokesperson said deaths on WA beaches were tragic, but warnings and safety lay outside its remit.
“Local governments play an important role in ensuring the public is aware of the potential hazards along Western Australia’s vast and diverse coastline including through beach signage,” the spokesperson said.
“Beachgoers must also look for and consider the risks before entering the water.”
But Sam Cornell from the University of New South Wales’ beach safety research group said campaigns driving people to remote locations had a responsibility to warn of the dangers.
Education on how to identify a rip or strong current is essential. (Supplied)
“Surely the onus is also on you to explain those dangers and probably invest just as much money in these safety aspects as you would invest in the enticing aspects,” he said.
Mr Cornell said scrutiny was needed to ensure the right message reached the people who needed it the most.
“It feels like we’re just running campaigns for the sake of it without having evaluated and knowing whether it works,” he said.
“It’s just more taxpayers’ money being spent without any evidence that this one will be any more successful than the last.”