Wednesday 12 May 2010:  Virgin Blue Airlines will be the first airline in Australia to take the surf safety messages to the skies following a number of drowning tragedies across Australian beaches.

The Hon. Peter Lawlor, Minister for Tourism and Fair Trading, today helped launch the new campaign at the Currumbin Beach Surf Life Saving Club on the Gold Coast.

The airline has joined forces with Surf Life Saving to drive home some key messages on domestic flights for those visiting Aussie beaches.

The first phase will be launched from May and will involve using the carrier’s in-flight seatback TV screens to highlight the “Swim Between the Red and Yellow Flags” message via a simple still TV advertisement.  It will then be stepped up another notch in June when the airline will feature a tailor made commercial aimed at highlighting the risks associated with swimming at unsupervised beaches.

The 30 second TVC will feature three representatives from both the volunteer and paid ranks of Lifesaving and Lifeguard services that visitors to Australian beaches may encounter, and is designed to ensure that everyone can easily recognise the safest place to swim and who to look for in the event they need advice or assistance.

Virgin Blue will screen the TV commercials as a community announcement across its entire domestic network just prior to landing, targeting would be swimmers at world famous beaches all around Australia from Broome to Ballina to Burleigh Heads and Bondi.  It will be shown across every single of the airline’s approximately 400 daily flights across all destinations, including those that aren’t coastal, just to act as a reminder.

Chief Executive, John Borghetti, said, “Australia is very much the lucky country in many ways and our beautiful beaches are a spectacular draw card.  As an airline flying to many popular coastal destinations, we are keen to play our part in highlighting the importance of beach safety.”

More than 94 coastal drownings occurred in the 2008-2009 season, with almost 70% of them occurring at a beach.  No-one drowned when swimming between the red and yellow flags.

Surf Life Saving Australia is urging people to heed the advice to treat the sea with respect and always swim between the red and yellow flags.

SLSA Group General Manager Michael Hornby said, “It’s a very simple and clear message but often one that is ignored by those who choose to flout the advice and take on the unpredictable surf without the support of surf lifesavers and lifeguards that are trained to do just that…save lives.  We are delighted that Virgin Blue has come on board to help us spread the ’swim between the red and yellow flags’ message and are hopeful it will translate to a safer 2010/2011 summer season as well as serve as a reminder during the winter months to be  cautious when all beaches aren’t patrolled.”

The national in-flight campaign initiative came about from support from Virgin Blue’s ownteam members (some who are volunteer surf lifesavers) as well as the in-flightentertainment team who identified the surf safety message as being most appropriate for a majority Australian owned airline.

John Borghetti continued, “Virgin Blue flies more than 1-million people per month across the country and we are delighted to lend our support to Surf Life Saving Australia.”

Michael Hornby added, “We are absolutely thrilled that Virgin Blue has stepped up to be the first airline to get behind this critical campaign and we have no doubt their efforts will not only help save lives but also act as a re-enforcement of the importance of volunteer surf lifesavers who  generously give of their time to keep swimmers safe.”

The strong increase is attributable to the improvement in road routes between Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia and simplified entry procedures.

The ASEAN countries have emerged as the fastest growing market for Vietnam’s tourism.

Tourists from the Philippines take the lead with a 55% rise, followed by Thailand with 41.6%, Singapore 27.5% and Malaysia 21.6%.

Under the agreement, signed by the city’s Mayor Nguyen The Thao and VTV General Director Vu Van Hien on February 25, VTV will broadcast a series of special programmes on the history of Thang Long-Hanoi and activities to celebrate the anniversary. In addition to normal broadcast in Vietnamese, there will be programmes in several ethnic minority and foreign languages.

The national television will also build up a documentary collection on the theme.

Thang Long-Hanoi came into being in the autumn of 1010 with King Ly Thai To’s edict on the transfer of the capital. Being one of the most ancient capitals in Southeast Asia, this imperial land boasts a continual historic millennium through the Ly, Tran and Le, etc., dynasties to modern Vietnam.

The five-day event, which will take place in Dinh Tien Hoang Street at Hoan Kiem Lake (Sword Lake), will gather purveyors of flowers and floral artisans from Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Lam Dong province?s Da Lat city, as well as craftsmen from Hanoi?s traditional villages.

According to Nguyen Thi Hoa, deputy director of the Vietnam Culture and Art Exhibition Centre, some 5,000 flowerpots and 20,000 cut flowers will be used for decoration at the event.

Works of art will be created from flowers, or from a combination of flowers and traditional products, such as bird cages, wind bells, masks, drums and unicorns, Hoa said.

Two prominent works, a 9-metre fan made entirely of flowers and a 50-metre pottery street, a reproduction of 200 tiled-roof houses in the Old Quarter, are expected to be recognised as Vietnamese records during the event.

The festival has been organised as the opening event in a series of activities to mark the 1,000th anniversary of Thang Long ? Hanoi.