Waves of lawsuits flagged

30.04.2010

HOTELS, motels and hostels on the
Gold Coast have left themselves
open to be sued for millions by failing
to provide surf safety information
- even after the issue was
highlighted when three people
drowned earlier this year.
The legal responsibilities of
accommodation providers to educate
their guests about surf dangers
was a key point raised at the second
beach safety summit staged on the
Gold Coast last week.
Marine Tourism Australia executive
Dr Jeff Wilks said Gold Coast
hotels seemed unaware of cases like
Enright v Hyatt Coolum, where the
widow of a US tourist sued a resort
for $121 million after her husband
drowned on a Sunshine Coast beach.
Dr Willis said while Maureen
Enright lost the case, the extensive
efforts by the Hyatt Coolum to educate
and protect its guests from
drowning dangers was one of the
key reasons for the judges' decision.
However, things would not go the
same way for many accommodation
providers on the Gold Coast if they
were caught up in a legal case of the
same vein.
In a special investigation the
Bulletin checked 10 hotels, backpackers
and unit complexes in
Surfers Paradise located near the
beach at the weekend and only four
were displaying the swim between
the flags pamphlets, produced by the
Gold Coast City Council and Surf
Life Saving Queensland.
This followed a similar check
in January when four major
backpackers were checked and
none of them had any surf safety
information.
Tourist Alec Thomson had just
arrived on the Gold Coast from New
Zealand for a holiday with his wife
and two children and was staying
at one of the six accommodation
houses that did not have any surf
safety brochures displayed.
"We were not made aware of the
surf dangers," he said.
Dr Wilks said property managers
he talked to seemed unaware of
their responsibilities.
"It is probably our job as part of a
good experience to educate them
about surf safety," he said.
Tourism Operation Management
managing director Mike Jones said:
"We probably need to educate the
accommodation providers before we
educate the tourists.
"I do not think most of them
know there is an issue."
Surf Life Saving Queensland
executive manager John Brennan
said the audit of accommodation
providers `proved the organisation's
work was not done'.
"We had already decided that we
need to ask for more up-to-date
information from our distributors on
what is going where in terms of the
pamphlets but this is more proof,"
he said.
Gold Coast councillor Bob La
Castra did not provide any information
on what had been done to fill
the gaps. He said the council contributed
$25,000 to the brochure it
produced with SLSQ.