TOUR OPERATOR INSURANCE

Asia Tour Insurance

A boat on a limestone bay, a tuk-tuk through the old quarter, a night market after dark. On an Asia tour, local operators run much of what guests do, under local standards. Here is how your cover fits around them.

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$20MPublic liability limit available

PI + PLProfessional indemnity and public liability, together or on separate policies

USD 1MMinimum liability for contractors in Asia on one specialist wording we place

Premiums and outcomes described are specific to this client and indicative only. Your own terms will depend on your circumstances and the insurer.

THE SHORT ANSWER

What insurance does an Australian operator running tours in Asia need?

An Australian business running tours in Asia generally needs public liability that can respond overseas for injury to guests and damage to property, plus professional indemnity for errors in itineraries, bookings and supplier selection. On at least one specialist tour operator wording we place, you must take reasonable steps to make sure local contractors in Asia (ground operators, boat operators, guides, drivers) hold at least USD 1 million liability or the local equivalent, you must take reasonable steps to make sure every guest holds comprehensive travel insurance, and any destination rated Do Not Travel by the Australian Government before departure is excluded. Food you supply is treated as a product, but illness from a notifiable or communicable disease can be excluded. Registered vehicles, scuba, white water rafting and motorbike or ATV rides sit outside that wording, and larger boats raise their own exclusion.

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Sanctioned destinations, war, civil unrest and terrorism are excluded too. Destination risk sits with you and your booking terms. Guests' own travel insurance may or may not respond, depending on the policy each guest chose. General information only. It doesn't take into account your objectives, financial situation or needs, and it isn't legal advice.

Core covers: Public liability and PI, with worldwide territory available
Contractor minimum: USD 1 million or the local equivalent, on one wording we place
Destination rule: No cover where Do Not Travel applies before departure, on one wording we place
Watch for: Local boats, scooters, scuba, rafting and street food

A local boat trip goes wrong

The group transfers to a local boat for a bay cruise or an island hop, and a guest is hurt boarding from a floating pontoon. Your liability for the local operator's conduct is a public liability question. On at least one wording we place, boats over 8 metres used by or for you are excluded unless someone else owns and operates the boat and it is used for business entertainment. Whether a paid cruise qualifies is an open question, and insurers treat this differently, so raise it with us before you build it into the itinerary.

Local standards aren't Australian ones

A hotel balcony rail is lower than you'd expect, a temple stair has no handrail, a footpath is broken. Where standards differ, the question becomes what you knew, what you checked and what you told guests. Supplier inspection notes and pre-departure briefings are your evidence.

Street food and stomach illness

A guest falls ill after a food stop you built into the tour. Food you supply is treated as a product under products liability, but illness from a notifiable or communicable disease can be excluded on at least one wording we place. Check with the underwriter before you market food experiences.

The travel advice changes mid-tour

The Australian Government raises a region to Do Not Travel while your group is there. At least one wording we place requires you to make every effort to repatriate guests. On that wording, tours that start after a destination is rated Do Not Travel are excluded altogether.

A driver hired by the ground operator crashes

A minibus crash on a mountain road injures guests. The transport operator's motor insurance may respond, and the tour operator policies we arrange generally exclude registered vehicles from public liability. A guest can still bring a claim against you as the business that sold the tour, so how you chose the ground operator and whether its certificate of insurance was current both matter.

A visa or entry error

You tell a guest they can get a visa on arrival, and they can't. They're refused boarding and miss the first week. Wrong entry advice that causes a financial loss is a professional indemnity matter, if that advice is part of the professional services described on your schedule.

Situation	Cover that may respond	What to know
Guest injured through a local ground operator's conduct	Public liability can respond to your own liability	The contractor isn't insured. You must take reasonable steps to confirm it holds at least USD 1 million liability or the local equivalent, with a certificate at the start and every year. This is the minimum on the schedule we hold; yours may differ.
Guest falls ill after food you supplied on the tour	Products liability can respond, subject to the disease exclusions	Illness from a notifiable or communicable disease can be excluded. An allergic reaction isn't a disease, but how a claim is treated still depends on the wording, so raise it with the underwriter.
Guest injured in a tuk-tuk, minibus or coach	The transport operator's cover may respond	Vehicles that are registered, or required to be, are excluded from public liability, including hired ones. Ask the underwriter how an unregistered local vehicle is treated. A guest can still bring a claim against you.
Tour runs in a region rated Do Not Travel before departure	Not insured	Excluded on at least one wording we place. If the rating changes during a tour, you must make every effort to repatriate guests.
Wrong visa or entry advice costs a guest money	Professional indemnity can respond	Only if that advice is part of the professional services on your schedule. Claims made basis.
Allegation of harassment or assault by a local guide	Not insured	Sexual harassment, molestation and assault allegations are excluded under both sections of at least one wording we place.

General information only. Cover depends on the policy wording, the schedule and the underwriter's assessment, and wordings differ between insurers. Limits, excesses and terms on your own schedule may differ.

Pricing is a regulatory point as well. In 2010 the ACCC accepted a court-enforceable undertaking from a business selling overseas group tours whose ads didn't prominently include mandatory charges such as fuel levies and tips. Advertising liability on at least one wording we place doesn't respond to a mistake in the advertised price.

Which countries and regions you visit, and how you check Smartraveller advice before each departure and during the tour
Who your ground operators are in each country, and how you collect their certificates against the USD 1 million minimum
Boats used on the itinerary: size, who owns and operates them, what they're used for, and whether life jackets are provided
Food experiences: street food stops, cooking classes or included meals, and who prepares the food
Optional activities offered or sold locally, such as scuba, white water rafting, scooter or ATV rides, or animal encounters
Whether a tour leader travels from Australia with the group, and the leader's first aid training
How you make sure every guest holds comprehensive travel insurance
Revenue by region, departures per year and any claims or incidents

Scooters, motorbikes and ATVs

Motorcycles, ATVs, e-bikes, Segways and scooters are excluded on at least one tour operator endorsement we place. A scooter day in Vietnam or an ATV ride in Bali needs a different market.

Diving, rafting and surf lessons

Scuba diving, surfing, white water rafting and Class 3 to 5 white water are excluded on at least one wording we place. Snorkelling trips need the underwriter's agreement or a different market, and the boat that takes guests out raises its own questions.

Do Not Travel, war and sanctions

Tours that start in a destination rated Do Not Travel are excluded on at least one wording we place. So are war, civil unrest and terrorism, and anything that would breach Australian, UN or other sanctions. Watch the advice before and during every departure.

Disease on tour

Communicable diseases, and diseases notifiable to government, are excluded from both public liability and PI on at least one wording we place. An illness that spreads through the group is outside that cover.

At least one specialist tour operator wording we place excludes injury from a list of adventure activities, including horse riding, e-bikes and Segways, surfing and scuba diving, and white water rafting. See the adventure activities excluded on one wording we place, grouped, and check the endorsement on your own schedule.

A claim can come back to you. An Australian business that sells a tour can face a claim in Australia over what happened on it, even where local suppliers delivered parts of it. In Insight Vacations Pty Ltd v Young [2011] HCA 16, the High Court held the seller of a European coach tour package liable, under the statutory warranty of due care and skill, for the service it sold, including a fall on the tour's coach. The tour operator policies we arrange can respond to your legal liability arising from the conduct of contractors and agents you engage, subject to the wording, but they don't insure the contractors themselves. That's why at least one tour operator endorsement we place asks you to take reasonable steps to confirm contractors outside Australia, Europe, the USA and Canada hold at least USD 1 million liability or the local equivalent. See our guide to contract guides, coach companies and suppliers.

What reasonable steps looks like. Get each contractor's certificate of insurance at the start and every year, with a translation on file if it isn't in English. Check the limit and currency against the minimum. Keep notes of any site, boat or vehicle inspections, and of what you told guests in the pre-departure briefing about local conditions. If a claim comes, that file shows the care you took.

Watch the advice, not just the bookings. At least one wording we place excludes tours in a destination rated Do Not Travel by the Australian Government before the tour starts. If a destination moves to Do Not Travel during a tour, you must make every effort to bring guests home. Guests' own travel insurance can also depend on the advice level. Smartraveller has four levels, and it says a policy may not cover level 3 (Reconsider your need to travel) locations and that standard policies generally won't cover level 4 (Do not travel) destinations. Check Smartraveller before every departure, not only when you build the itinerary. More in our guide to insurance for overseas tours.

Food stops and the disease exclusions. Food you supply on a tour can be treated as a product on the tour operator policies we arrange, but illness from a communicable disease, or a disease notifiable to government, can be excluded on at least one wording we place. Salmonellosis, campylobacteriosis, hepatitis A, typhoid and cholera are all on Australia's national notifiable disease list, published by the Australian Centre for Disease Control. The communicable disease exclusion is separate and doesn't depend on any notifiable list. How the exclusion applies to an illness picked up at a food stop overseas is a question to put to the underwriter before you sell food-led itineraries. Our guide to food and alcohol on tours goes further.

School and youth groups. After a student died on a school expedition to Vietnam in 2019, a Victorian school and the expedition company that ran the trip pleaded guilty to safety charges under Victoria's Occupational Health and Safety Act, AAP reported. If you take school groups to Asia, the education department rules in Victoria and WA set what a government school must ask you for, and both tell schools to refuse a waiver that releases a provider from its own negligence (see the table below). Build your medical disclosure and escalation process before the first departure.

Who asks	What they ask for	What to know
Victorian government schools (school groups)	A current public liability certificate of at least $10 million from an APRA approved insurer, and Working with Children Checks for provider adults in direct contact with students.	The Department of Education tells schools to refuse waivers where a provider seeks to absolve itself of negligence. A Victorian Working with Children clearance is valid for five years.
WA public schools (school groups)	$20 million public liability and, if appropriate, $5 million professional liability.	Staff must not sign waivers, indemnities or disclaimers that absolve a provider from its own negligence. Check the PI limit on your schedule against what the school asks for. A WA Working with Children card expires after three years.
Viator	Valid public liability insurance, described in its August 2026 supplier agreement as a mandatory global baseline.	Viator has sole discretion to set minimums by activity risk and destination, and publishes no dollar figure for Australian suppliers. Expired or insufficient documents freeze new sales.
GetYourGuide	Occurrence-based liability cover with no stated dollar figure, plus motor liability for any vehicles at no less than the compulsory requirements of the country where the service runs.	The vehicle clause is met by your local transport supplier's insurance, not by your liability policy. Subcontractors must be insured under your policy or hold their own cover that meets the platform's terms.

Published requirements as at October 2026. Confirm the current figure with the authority or platform before you rely on it. Some authorities also require an APRA-authorised insurer or exact certificate wording, so confirm with us how the certificate will satisfy each.

Student death on a school expedition to Vietnam (County Court of Victoria, 2025)

In September 2019 a 16-year-old student with type 1 diabetes became ill about two weeks into a Vietnam expedition run by a Victorian school with a specialist expedition company, and died. The three supervising adults were not trained to recognise diabetic ketoacidosis, and the student's diabetes management plan did not travel with the group. The school and the expedition company later pleaded guilty to safety charges under Victoria's Occupational Health and Safety Act, AAP reported.

The insurance lesson. A civil claim would be a public liability question, and possibly a PI one for planning and supervision, subject to the policy's territory, jurisdiction and exclusions. The controls: medical disclosures that reach the leader in the field, training specific to the conditions disclosed, and an escalation call that always states pre-existing conditions.

Source: AAP: school pleads guilty after death of student on overseas trip

Tour operator collapse cancels China and Sri Lanka departures (2026)

In May 2026 a Melbourne tour operator cancelled China, Sri Lanka and South America tours at short notice, leaving some travellers stranded mid-trip, the ABC reported. According to the liquidator, as the ABC reported, the company owed about $4.3 million to nearly 800 creditors and held about $83,000 in assets, and refunds could not be paid.

The insurance lesson. There is no statutory compensation fund behind a failed tour seller. On at least one wording we place, PI excludes claims arising from your own insolvency or a supplier's, so neither a collapsed ground operator nor a collapsed wholesaler is an insured event. If you resell another operator's tours, your checks on that operator's standing are your protection. Guests' own travel insurance may exclude insolvency, so tell them to check.

Source: ABC News, 15 June 2026: call to reinstate compensation scheme after tour operator collapse

Medical disclosure that reaches the leader

Give guests a way to tell you, before departure, about any medical condition or management plan they want the leader to know about, and make sure what they disclose travels with the tour leader in the field. After the Vietnam expedition death, the Victorian coroner recommended the expedition company adopt policies on managing disclosed medical conditions.

A Smartraveller routine with a named decision-maker

Check the advice level for every country and region before each departure and each day the group is away. Write down who decides to reroute or bring the group home, which flights you'd use and who calls the guests. On at least one wording we place, you must make every effort to repatriate guests if a destination moves to Do Not Travel during a tour.

Local supplier certificates, translated and dated

Hold a certificate for every ground operator, boat company, driver and guide you engage, showing at least USD 1 million liability or the local equivalent, with a translation if it isn't in English. Collect it at the start and every year, and note the exchange rate you used to check the limit.

Boat checks before anyone boards

Confirm who owns and runs each boat, its length, and that there is a life jacket for every guest. At least one published Australian tourism wording makes life jackets and daily craft inspections conditions of cover for water activities. On at least one wording we place, boats over 8 metres raise an exclusion, so list every boat on the proposal.

Allergies and food stops

Give guests a way to tell you about food allergies before departure, and pass what they disclose to local guides and kitchens before each included meal. Use food stops you have inspected, and keep a note of what was served and where. Illness from a notifiable or communicable disease can be excluded on at least one wording we place, so prevention does more than the policy.

First aid and an incident log

Safe Work Australia's model first aid code says first aid qualifications should be renewed every three years and CPR refreshed every year. Send a leader with a current first aid qualification from a registered training organisation, and log every injury, illness and near miss on the day it happens.

We've found tour operator public liability hard to place on its own in the past, and PI and public liability often had to be split across insurers. We approach several specialist insurers and underwriting agencies. Some write PI and public liability together, others write one or the other, and we put the cover together to suit the tours you run, for tour operators and for travel agents that run their own tours, subject to each insurer's assessment.

We don't publish a separate price for asia tours. As a general guide, across the tour types the markets we approach are set up to quote, subject to each insurer's assessment, combined PI and public liability for a small tour operator costs approximately $1,200 to $1,800 a year including fees. As at October 2026. Your price depends on the activities, destinations, revenue, limits and claims history, and it can fall outside that range. It is not a quote. See what drives the premium.

A placement from September 2026. A new NSW-based cultural tour operator designs immersive programs for groups visiting Australia and for Australian groups visiting Asia, with local tour companies running the coaches and accommodation. It needed a certificate of currency urgently. Result: $20 million public liability and $1 million professional indemnity on one combined policy, worldwide territory excluding US jurisdiction, placed the same week on that occasion at approximately $1,850 including fees. This is one past placement, not a quote. Your price and terms depend on your risk. Read the case study.

Sources referred to on this page

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Asia Tour Insurance FAQs

01 Can an Australian business get cover for tours it runs in Asia?

Asia tours are a tour type the specialist markets we approach are set up to quote, subject to each insurer's assessment. Worldwide territory is available on at least one wording we place, with claims brought in a US court or under US law excluded. Conditions apply on that wording: you must take reasonable steps to make sure local contractors hold at least USD 1 million liability or the local equivalent, guests must be checked for comprehensive travel insurance, and Do Not Travel destinations are excluded.

02 What does USD 1 million or local equivalent mean for my suppliers?

It's the minimum general liability your contractors, consultants and agents outside Australia, Europe, the USA and Canada are expected to hold under at least one tour operator endorsement we place. For a Thai ground operator or a Vietnamese boat company, that's USD 1 million or the equivalent in local currency. You take reasonable steps by getting their certificate at the start and every year.

03 Is a stomach illness on an Asia food tour covered?

Don't assume it is. Food and drink you supply on a tour is treated as a product under products liability, but illness from a notifiable or communicable disease can be excluded on at least one wording we place. Salmonellosis, hepatitis A, typhoid and cholera are all on Australia's national notifiable disease list. An allergic reaction isn't a disease, but how a claim is treated still depends on the wording, so raise both with the underwriter before you sell food-focused tours.

04 What happens if Smartraveller changes its advice while my group is in Asia?

Under at least one wording we place, tours in a destination classified Do Not Travel by the Australian Government before the tour starts are excluded. If the classification changes during the tour, you must make every effort to repatriate your guests. Plan for that before departure: who calls the guests, which flights you'd use, and what your booking terms say about the cost.

05 Are motorbike or scooter tours in Asia covered?

Don't assume so. At least one specialist tour operator wording we place excludes motorcycles, ATVs, e-bikes, Segways and scooters, and registered vehicles generally sit outside public liability on the policies we arrange anyway. If a scooter or motorbike day is part of your tour, tell us before you bind so we can look at the options rather than leave a gap.

06 How much does Asia tour insurance cost?

We don't publish a separate price for Asia tour insurance. As a general guide, combined professional indemnity and public liability for a small tour operator costs approximately $1,200 to $1,800 a year including fees, as at October 2026, and it can fall outside that range. The countries you visit, the boats and activities on the itinerary, your number of departures and your revenue all move the price. So do your limits and claims history. It is not a quote.

07 What happened after the 2019 Vietnam school expedition death?

After a student died on a school expedition to Vietnam in 2019, a Victorian school and the expedition company pleaded guilty to safety charges under Victoria's Occupational Health and Safety Act, AAP reported. A civil claim after an incident like that would be a public liability question, and possibly a professional indemnity one for planning and supervision, subject to the policy's territory, jurisdiction and exclusions. Raise any expedition-style program with the underwriter before you sell it.

08 What do schools ask for before booking an overseas tour with an operator?

It depends on the state. Victorian government schools need a provider's public liability certificate of at least $10 million from an APRA approved insurer. WA public schools must confirm $20 million public liability and, if appropriate, $5 million professional liability. Both departments tell schools to refuse waivers that release a provider from its own negligence. These figures are as at October 2026, so check the current procedure with the school.

RELATED GUIDES

More on Tour Operator Insurance

Tour Operator Insurance (main guide) →

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Food Tour Insurance →

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Insurance for travel agents →

What is a certificate of currency? →

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