TOUR OPERATOR INSURANCE
A dairy, a berry farm and an orchard stall, joined by an hour of country road. The underwriter wants to know what your guests touch, eat and pat, and who owns the farm they're standing on.
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 a cheese and produce tour business need in Australia?
A cheese and produce tour operator generally needs public liability for guests hurt on farms and damage to a producer's property, professional indemnity for booking errors, and separate motor cover for any vehicle it owns. Farms, dairies and booking platforms can ask for a certificate of currency before they host your groups. The farm setting is what sets this tour apart. Guests walk among livestock, machinery and uneven paddocks, and animal contact brings a disease risk that the notifiable and communicable disease exclusions on at least one specialist tour operator wording we place can catch. The underwriter will ask about animal contact, unpasteurised products, farm vehicles and how far you drive.
The farm's own insurance is for its property, animals and produce. Yours is for your tour, including where your guide takes guests and what you hand out yourself. General information only. It doesn't take into account your objectives, financial situation or needs, and it isn't legal advice.
Guests pat calves or feed goats at a dairy, then eat cheese without washing their hands. Illness spread from animals can be the kind of disease at least one specialist tour operator wording we place excludes, so handwashing stations and a clear rule to wash before tasting are the real control.
A cow shifts in the milking shed, or a guest leans over a gate into a pen. Injury from the farm's animals points first at the farm, but where your guide let the group stand is yours to answer for.
A producer offers a raw milk cheese or an unpasteurised juice. If a guest falls ill, the producer's own approvals and cover will be in question, and illness from a notifiable or communicable disease can be excluded on your policy.
Tractors, quad bikes and trailers are part of farm life. If a guest is hurt riding on or near one, motorcycles and ATVs are on the excluded activities list of at least one wording we place, registered vehicles are outside public liability, and whether a ride on an unregistered farm vehicle is caught is a question to raise with the underwriter.
A guest leaves a gate open and the farmer's stock get out, or the group tramples a crop row. Damage to the farm's property during your tour is a public liability question, subject to the excess.
An hour between farms, at dawn or dusk. Injury in a crash in your vehicle is excluded from public liability. The state CTP scheme may respond, but in Queensland, WA and SA that depends on fault, and the vehicle needs commercial motor cover. A wildlife strike is a motor question, not public liability.
| Situation | Cover that may respond | What to know |
|---|---|---|
| Guest injured by livestock during a farm visit | Public liability can respond (yours and the farm's) | The farm's own insurance is for its animals and property. Yours can respond to your legal liability, subject to the wording, for example where your guide let the group into a pen. |
| Guests ill after animal contact or an unpasteurised tasting | Check with the underwriter | Notifiable and communicable diseases are excluded under public liability and PI on at least one specialist tour operator wording we place. STEC, listeriosis, salmonellosis and campylobacteriosis are on the national notifiable list. Ask how they treat illness before you bind. See food and alcohol on tours. |
| Guest reacts to produce you packed into a tasting hamper | Products liability can respond | Food you supply is treated as a product. 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 leaves a gate open or damages a crop | Public liability can respond | Damage to someone else's property during your tour can be covered where you are legally liable, subject to the wording and the excess ($1,000 on one wording we place). |
| Guest hurt on a tractor ride or quad bike | Check with the underwriter | ATVs are excluded on at least one specialist tour operator wording we place, and registered vehicles sit outside public liability. Whether a ride on an unregistered farm vehicle is caught is an open question, so raise it with the underwriter and confirm what the farm holds before a ride goes on your itinerary. |
| Crash on a country road between farms | CTP scheme, which may respond, and commercial motor | Tour operator policies we arrange exclude injury caused by a registered vehicle from public liability. The state CTP scheme may respond, but in Queensland, WA and SA it depends on fault, so an injury can fall between the two. See vehicles and passenger liability. |
If your route includes a stop in a national park or reserve, the park authority can set its own public liability figure and certificate wording. The published figures by state are in our guide to park and council permit insurance requirements.
At least one specialist tour operator wording we place excludes horse riding and equine tours, and motorcycles and ATVs. A farm tour with a trail ride or a quad bike loop needs a different market.
Communicable and notifiable diseases are excluded on at least one specialist tour operator wording we place. If a farm says your group brought something onto the property, that exclusion may apply, so check with the underwriter, follow each farm's biosecurity rules and keep a record that you did.
Your policy doesn't insure the farm's animals, workers, produce or machinery. Ask for its certificate of currency, especially if guests go into sheds or paddocks.
Working holidays on ranches or lodges are on the excluded activities list of at least one wording we place. A stay where guests do farm work is closer to that than to a tasting tour, so describe it accurately and talk to us first.
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.
What has happened. In August 2013, at least 12 people, mostly children, fell ill after visiting the farm-animal petting area at Brisbane's Ekka, and four tested positive for Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC), according to Food Safety News. It was an outbreak among visitors to a show's animal nursery, not a tour group, but it involved the kind of animal contact a farm-gate tour can include.
Why it matters for your cover. At least one specialist tour operator wording we place excludes communicable diseases and any disease notifiable to government, under both public liability and PI. STEC is on the national notifiable disease list. So are listeriosis, salmonellosis, campylobacteriosis and cryptosporidiosis, and states keep their own lists as well. An illness outbreak after animal contact or a tasting may fall into those exclusions, which puts more weight on prevention than on the policy. Wordings differ: at least one published Australian tour operator wording has no communicable disease exclusion in its base wording, though endorsements and schedules can change any wording, while the wording we place mentioned above has one. Ask the underwriter how they would treat it, and check that each farm holds its own public liability for its animals and premises.
The controls. Handwashing with soap and running water before anyone eats, no food or drink in animal areas, close supervision of children, and each farm's biosecurity rules on clean footwear and no-go areas. Put them in your written safety procedures and your pre-tour briefing, because the underwriter can ask for both. Our risk management guide has the briefing and incident templates, and tour operator claims and court cases has more real incidents and what they show.
Produce you pack yourself. A hamper or tasting box you put together is your product. Under the plain English allergen labelling rules in force since 25 February 2024, packaged food declares allergens in bold using set names with a separate "contains" statement, and for food that doesn't need a label the declarations must be displayed with the food or provided on request. If you repack cheese, nuts or preserves, ask your council or state food authority what labelling and food business rules apply to you, and keep each producer's allergen information with the hamper list.
| Who asks | What they ask for | What to know |
|---|---|---|
| Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service (if your route enters a park or reserve) | $20 million public liability for its nature based tourism business licence, with evidence before the contract issues. | $20 million public liability is available, and that limit meets this public liability minimum. The licence page also asks for accreditation within 12 months, so confirm with us how the certificate will satisfy the licence conditions. |
| National Parks and Wildlife Service South Australia | $10 million public liability for any one claim under its Commercial Tour Operator Licence, confirmed for 2026-27, with the certificate in the legal entity name. | The licence terms ask for the policy to be endorsed with the Relevant Authority's and the Minister's interest. That needs to be requested, so tell us before you apply. |
| Quality Tourism Accreditation | Current public liability of at least $10 million with a certificate of currency. | The standards also ask for a risk management statement, an incident report form and at least one staff member trained in first aid, which suits a farm setting. |
| Viator | Valid public liability insurance, a mandatory global baseline under its August 2026 Supplier Agreement, with minimums set by activity risk and destination. | Describe animal contact and farm vehicle rides accurately on the listing and on your proposal, so the two match. |
In August 2013, at least 12 people, mostly children, fell ill after visiting the farm-animal petting area at the Ekka in Brisbane. Four tested positive for Shiga toxin-producing E. coli. A health investigation followed. No litigation was found. It was an outbreak among visitors to an agricultural show's animal nursery, not a tour group.
The insurance lesson. Animal contact illness is a claim that can be made against the venue and against a tour business that chose the stop. STEC is on the national notifiable disease list, and at least one specialist tour operator wording we place excludes diseases notifiable to government, so the exclusion is the first thing an insurer would look at. Prevention carries the weight: handwashing before food, supervision of children, and a farm that holds its own public liability.
Source: Food Safety News (August 2013)
Make soap and running water a fixed step between the animals and the tasting bench, and check each farm has the facilities before you add it to the route. No food or drink in animal areas.
Ask every producer for its rules on clean boots, footbaths and no-go areas, brief them before guests leave the vehicle, and keep a note that you did. That record matters if a farm later says a visitor brought something in.
Agree with the farm where guests can stand, keep children within arm's reach of an adult in pens and sheds, and keep the group out of yards where stock are being moved.
Collect each farm's certificate of currency at the start and each year, and ask whether its cover includes visitors and tastings. Raise any farm vehicle ride with the underwriter before it goes on your itinerary.
Carry a charged phone or other working communication device and a stocked first aid kit on every tour. At least one published Australian tour operator wording makes that a condition of cover. Have a first aid trained guide and know where mobile coverage drops out.
Log every bite, kick, fall and illness report. A serious injury or illness arising from your business must be notified to the work health and safety regulator immediately, and that includes guests. Tell us early, and don't admit fault at the farm gate.
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 cheese and produce 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
RELATED GUIDES
QUOTE REQUEST
Tell us the tours you run, where they go, group sizes, who supplies transport and venues, your annual revenue, and the limit you need on your certificate.
Send us your tour descriptions and itinerary, and we will take them to the specialist markets that write tour operators and come back to you with the options available.
Last updated: 01/10/2026
