Putting tourists in harms way – Coastal tourist parks and hazardous unpatrolled surf beaches in New South Wales, Australia

•Many coastal tourist parks in NSW, Australia are situated close to hazardous surf beaches.•Many of these hazardous beaches are unpatrolled or only partially patrolled by lifeguards.•Existing beach hazard rating systems need to incorporate human factors.•Improved beach surveillance and education for coastal tourist park visitors is needed.

This study investigates relationships between coastal tourist parks in New South Wales (NSW), Australia and the hazard rating and extent of lifeguard patrols of their nearest surf beach. The vast majority (91%) of NSW coastal tourist parks are closest to surf beaches rated as hazardous to swimmers. Of these beaches, 35% are completely unpatrolled by lifeguards while another 61% are only partially patrolled (<25% per year). Visitors to tourist parks in the Southern Region of NSW are at greater risk when bathing due to a higher percentage of unpatrolled beaches. These findings raise important questions regarding the provision of lifeguarding services on these beaches, the availability and dissemination of beach safety material, and the duty of care of tourist park operators. It also highlights the need to further incorporate human usage and interaction variables into existing beach hazard rating systems.