A NORTH Stradbroke Island man wants foreign visitors to watch graphic videos of surf drownings before swimming at beaches.
He says the move, if forced by authorities, would prevent deaths.
Paul Mergler, who rents out camper trailers to holiday-makers at the island, said he believed tourists to Australia were not being adequately warned about the perils of dangerous surf.
International tourists were travelling on long-haul flights for exciting Australian adventures only to end up going back home in coffins.
"You would be shocked how many people die and their circumstances are preventable," he said.
"They don't need to die. They can come and have a great time swimming between the flags."
Mr Mergler's calls have come after a 24-year-old Filipino man, who is understood to have been in Australia on a student visa, died in waters near Adder Rock on Monday.
The man and his friends had been standing in the water when they were swept away by an undercurrent.
Another man died on New Year's Day at Frenchman's Beach, which is notorious for its strong currents. It is understood his young daughter was there at the time.
Both deaths will be reviewed by the Queensland coroner.
Mr Mergler said tourists needed to be shown the stark realities of how dangerous surf in unpatrolled areas could be before they entered the water.
The Australian government and tourism operators were reneging on a duty of care by enticing visitors over for beach holidays, without giving sufficient warning about drowning risks, he said.
Mr Mergler believed videos showing dramatisations of drownings, similar to crash trauma ads as part of road safety campaigns, could be shown on flights, buses and water taxis.
"Show the reality of what happens," he said. "You can read about it but that doesn't tell the story.
"If we do the dramatisation and show (a swimmer) fighting rips, then he goes under water and goes blue, that has got to be an education."
A Surf Life Saving Queensland spokesperson said the organisation was developing a video to educate visitors to North Stradbroke Island about patrolled beach locations.
That video would be shown on water taxis travelling to the island, the spokesperson said.
The organisation had also partnered with Qantas to deliver safety messages to international visitors this summer.
"In-flight public announcements were rolled out across flights to many coastal capitals and regional centres," the spokesperson said.
SLSQ had also recently launched two safety campaigns designed to shock audiences by illustrating the consequences of not swimming between the flags.
"The first, featuring a distracted mother who fails to notice her daughter disappear beneath the waves, was rolled out on SLSQ’s digital channels at Christmas time," the spokesperson said.
"Prior to the Australia Day weekend, SLSQ launched our Driving Beach Safety campaign which depicts how a young couple’s trip to the beach turns to tragedy though a simple error in judgement."
