Are Basques ready to visit Australian beaches? Exploring Basque beachgoers’ perceptions of Australian beach safety signage

Abstract

Introduction: This study investigates the knowledge of beach safety and perception of signage that Basque beachgoers would encounter if visiting Australia and also analyses significance differences between Basques and Japanese.

Methods: An online survey was conducted in the Basque Country among 167 participants. The descriptive analysis for quantitative data was conducted using both Excel and SPSS. Open-ended responses were coded for deductive thematic analysis.

Results: Almost half of participants confuse the meaning of the safety flags. Although Basque participants can translate into Spanish every word in beach safety terms, most do not know or give a totally different meaning to these terms. It was found different linguistic and cultural perceptions of the beach signs and terms between Japanese and Basque groups.

Conclusions: It would be advisable to adapt beach safety signage to foreign-born Australian beachgoers, taking into account their different cultural perceptions and understanding depending on their nationality.