Queensland lifesavers will unleash an arsenal of gizmos and gadgets designed to keep swimmers safe this summer, after a massive spike in the number of coastal drownings last financial year.

Key points: The SLSQ Wi-Fi will only work between the flags

The SLSQ Wi-Fi will only work between the flags More than 80 per cent of beach drownings last year occurred outside the flags

More than 80 per cent of beach drownings last year occurred outside the flags Drones are also being deployed to keep an eye on swimmers and conditions

Confronted with 21 deaths on Queensland beaches — three times the number of fatalities in the previous financial year — Surf Life Saving Queensland (SLSQ) is taking preventative action.

Their plan will utilise Australia's love of mobile phones to nudge swimmers closer to the red-and-yellow flags with Life-Fi, a Wi-Fi network set to be activated on busy tourist beaches.

But it will only be accessible between the flags — the signal drops out once users stray beyond the patrolled area.

Jason Argent from SLSQ said when users log on to the network they are shown beach conditions and warned of any dangers in the water.

"Any hazards identified by lifesavers and lifeguards will be entered into the Life-Fi system," he said.

The Life-Fi system is an SLSQ initiative aimed at keeping people between the flags. ( ABC News: Owen Jacques )

"As you log on and accept the terms and conditions, it'll actually give you that information and give you an idea of what's happening around you."

The project is designed to encourage swimmers to stay between the flags, where lifesavers and lifeguards are patrolling.

But it will also automatically offer foreign tourists beach warnings in their own language.

Lifesavers hope the Wi-Fi alerts will help reduce the number of tourist drownings.

"We had quite a few tourists drown on our beaches last year. It was quite a high number in relation to all the other drownings," Mr Argent said.

According to the SLSQ Coast Safe report released this month, at least 26 per cent of the 3,894 swimmers rescued in the past year were either international tourists or recent migrants.

More than 80 per cent of rescues also occurred outside flagged swimming areas.

Too hot to handle

While testing the system developers had to deal with a problem well-known to Queensland beachgoers — sand can get really hot.

"We needed to ensure the device could withstand the extreme heat experienced on Queensland beaches," an SLSQ spokeswoman said.

"After some trial and error, we were able to re-engineer the unit to withstand high temperatures."

Tests showed the network was used for an average of 90 seconds, with English and Japanese the most popular languages.

Daniel Gschwind from the Queensland Tourism Industry Council said while the state's beaches have a reputation worldwide as being safe places to swim, it would only take a few high-profile incidents for that to change.

Surf Life Saving Queensland is rolling out drones at busy beaches to monitor conditions and swimmers. ( ABC News: Owen Jacques )

He said Life-Fi would work alongside other safety information provided to international visitors.

"It's an issue we've been trying to address for some time, so having this online or this mobile technology also used in multiple languages will work very well," he said.

Eyes in the sky

Lifesavers are also taking to the sky with drones, both to monitor beach conditions and also as another set of eyes in the search for missing swimmers.

Mr Argent said lifesavers want the use of drones to become routine.

"They'll become part of the everyday operations," he said.

Mr Argent described drones as a reactive tool, while they hoped Life-Fi would be a preventative measure.

"We do know that people in the most scenic locations do whip their phone out to take an Instagram photo, so they're just as likely to also communicate on that tool and use the phone anyhow," he said.