TOUR OPERATOR INSURANCE
Fans want to stand where the scene was shot, and some locations are someone's front garden. Put a show's name on your booking page and the risk moves beyond trips and falls. Here is how film and TV location tour cover fits together.
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 film and TV location tour need?
A film and TV location tour operator generally needs public liability for injury to guests and damage at locations, professional indemnity for booking errors, and a clear view of what advertising liability covers. Two risks set these tours apart. The first is location: filming spots can be private homes, businesses or streets where residents didn't sign up for fans, and a group that strays onto private property without permission can draw a complaint or a claim. The second is marketing. Using a show's name, logo or stills to sell your tour can bring intellectual property or misleading conduct claims. Advertising liability on at least one specialist wording we place can respond to some of those within a sub-limit, and not where the tour failed to match what was advertised.
Film and TV location tours are among the tour types the specialist markets we approach are set up to quote, subject to each insurer's assessment. The underwriter may review your website, so make sure it matches what you tell them. General information only. It doesn't take into account your objectives, financial situation or needs, and it isn't legal advice.
A fan steps into a front garden for a photo of a house from a show, or the group crowds a business's doorway. Going onto private land without the owner's permission can bring a resident's claim or a council complaint, and it can cost you the location.
Your tour passes a location while filming is under way, fans push towards the barrier and someone is knocked over. Keeping your group outside a production's controlled area is your job, not the crew's.
Your booking page uses a show's logo, official stills or a title that suggests the tour is official. A trade mark or copyright claim, or a misleading conduct allegation, is an advertising question, and the cover for it is sub-limited.
A set has been dismantled or a location has closed, and guests say the tour wasn't what you advertised. Advertising liability doesn't cover a tour that failed to match its advertised quality, and PI doesn't refund the tour price.
Uneven ground at a rural filming location or steps at a city site. If the claim says your guide led the group somewhere unsafe for the perfect photo, it becomes a public liability claim against you.
The brochure promises a visit to a location on land you have no permit or agreement to enter. That is a misleading conduct exposure before a single guest turns up, and tour operator policies we arrange generally exclude fines and penalties from public liability.
| Situation | Cover that may respond | What to know |
|---|---|---|
| Guest injured at a filming location | Public liability | Can respond to your legal liability, subject to the wording and schedule. Where the landowner or venue is at fault, its own cover may respond. |
| Resident says your group damaged their property | Public liability | Damage to someone else's property. Excess applies. One wording we place sets it at $1,000, and yours may differ. |
| Rights holder objects to your use of a show's name or images | Public liability (advertising liability) | Can respond to some advertising claims, including intellectual property, within a $250,000 sub-limit on one specialist wording we place. Ask the underwriter how it treats website and social content. |
| Guests say the tour didn't match the advertising | Not covered by advertising liability | The extension excludes a tour that failed to match its advertised quality, and mistakes in the advertised price. PI may respond to a consumer law claim, but not to a refund of the tour price. |
| A regulator acts over advertising for access you didn't hold | Not insured as to fines | Tour operator policies we arrange generally exclude fines and penalties from public liability. At least one PI wording we place has a sub-limited statutory liability extension for some penalties that are insurable at law, and some WHS penalties cannot lawfully be insured. See what's covered and what's excluded. |
| Booking error means guests miss a location or timed visit | Professional indemnity | Claims made basis. Can respond to the client's consequential losses caused by the error. |
| Guests hurt on a helicopter flight over locations | Not insured | Helicopter activities, and all aircraft including drones, are excluded on at least one specialist wording we place. |
Advertising liability on at least one specialist wording we place applies to advertising for your own tours, and excludes general-interest social media posts that aren't directly related to sales. The same wording has a broad exclusion for liability connected with internet use, so ask the underwriter how your website and social content are treated before you rely on it. Platform cover won't fill the gap either: as at October 2026, Airbnb says its Experiences liability insurance does not cover online risks such as defamation or intellectual property infringement. See our guide to booking platform insurance requirements.
Helicopter activities are on the excluded list, and aircraft of any kind are excluded from public liability. A flight over a filming location needs the aircraft operator's cover and a different market for your part.
Drones count as aircraft on at least one specialist wording we place, so recreating an aerial shot with your own drone is excluded. CASA says no aviation rule requires drone liability insurance, so drone cover would be a separate policy, and parks set their own rules: Parks Victoria does not permit recreational drones on its land at all.
Horse riding and driving your own vehicle in a foreign country are excluded on at least one specialist wording we place. A location tour abroad that includes either needs that leg placed elsewhere.
Advertising liability doesn't cover a tour that failed to match its advertised quality, and PI doesn't refund the tour price.
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.
Names, logos and stills. Fans search for the show, so your booking page names it. Using official stills, clips or logos, or wording that suggests the tour is endorsed, can bring trade mark, copyright or misleading conduct allegations from the rights holder. Use your own photos, describe the tour as unofficial where it is, and get written permission before you use anything official. Those steps matter more than the insurance, because the cover is narrow.
What advertising liability does and doesn't do. At least one specialist wording we place includes advertising liability for defamation, intellectual property and misleading advertising claims arising from your own advertising, within a $250,000 sub-limit inside the main limit. It doesn't cover advertising made knowing it was false, a mistake in the advertised price, or a tour that failed to match what was advertised. The same wording has a broad exclusion for liability connected with internet use, so ask the underwriter how your website and social posts are treated before you rely on the extension.
Advertising access you don't hold. The example here is not a film tour. In 2003 the ACCC accepted an undertaking from Voyages Hotels and Resorts Pty Ltd, which then operated Ayers Rock Resort, after the Federal Court found it had engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct by promoting tours onto Aboriginal land near Uluru, online and in brochures, without a permit or an agreement with the owners. The company paid $45,000 in costs and agreed to a two-year compliance program. A location tour raises the same question whenever the brochure shows a farm, a homestead or a set you have no agreement to enter. Hold the written permission before the location goes on the booking page.
Locations and residents. A filming location can be a family home, a small business or a farm. Get the owner's permission for anything beyond the public footpath, brief guests to stay on public land, and cap group sizes at residential locations. Where a production is filming, keep your group outside the controlled area and follow the crew's directions. Without permission, a group on private land invites a complaint to the council or the production, and that can cost you the location.
Locations on public land. Coastlines, forests and outback locations can sit inside a national park, and a commercial tour there needs the park authority's licence or permit. As at October 2026, Queensland, Parks Victoria, Tasmania and NT Parks ask for $20 million public liability, and NSW National Parks, WA and SA ask for $10 million. Our permit insurance requirements guide has the wording each authority wants on the certificate.
| Who asks | What they ask for | What to know |
|---|---|---|
| National park authorities (locations inside parks) | Queensland, Parks Victoria, Tasmania and NT Parks: $20 million. NSW National Parks, WA and SA: $10 million. NSW and Parks Victoria require exact interested party wording | A $20 million limit meets the public liability minimums listed here, but confirm with us how the certificate will satisfy each authority's wording. Drone filming is a separate permit: Parks Victoria asks for $20 million including aviation cover. |
| Councils (locations in council parks) | Brisbane City Council and City of Gold Coast: a $20 million certificate for commercial activity in a council park. City of Melbourne: $20 million with the City named as an interested party for permits in municipal public space | Whether a stop on a public footpath needs a permit is not something every council publishes. Ask before you add a location. |
| Airbnb Experiences | Hosts must maintain liability insurance appropriate for their business. Airbnb's own Experiences liability insurance, for the amount Airbnb states, sits above the host's cover | Airbnb says its cover excludes online risks such as defamation or intellectual property infringement, and aircraft, so it does not help with marketing or drone claims. |
| Viator (supplier agreement, August 2026) | Valid public liability insurance as a mandatory baseline, with minimums Viator sets by activity risk and destination | Expired or insufficient documents freeze new sales while existing bookings must still be honoured. |
| GetYourGuide (supplier terms) | No dollar figure. Occurrence-based, primary and non-contributory cover with a waiver of recovery rights. Where vehicles are used outside the US and Canada, motor liability at least equal to the compulsory requirements of the country of service | On at least one specialist wording we place, the waiver needs the insurer's prior consent, and vehicles are a motor policy matter, not public liability. |
Use your own photographs, describe the tour as unofficial where it is, and keep written permission for any logo, still or clip. Check that every location named on the page is one you have the right to visit. The underwriter may review your website.
For every home, business or farm beyond the public footpath, keep the owner's written permission, the conditions and the dates. If permission lapses, the location comes off the booking page the same day.
Before each residential stop: stay on the footpath, no stepping into gardens or driveways, keep voices down, no photographing residents. Set a smaller maximum group size for residential locations than for public sites.
If a production is filming, your group stays outside its controlled area, follows the crew's directions and moves on if asked. Put it in the guide's written procedure so it doesn't depend on judgement on the day.
A business drone must be registered with CASA whatever it weighs, kept 30 metres from people and out of populous areas, and CASA can fine up to $1,820 per offence as at October 2026. Park authorities add their own permits. At least one specialist tour operator wording we place excludes drones, so drone flights need separate cover in place before you fly.
At least one specialist wording we place requires reasonable steps to make sure contractors hold their own liability cover: AUD 10 million in Australia, EUR 5 million in Europe, and USD 1 million or the local equivalent in countries outside Europe, the USA and Canada. Collect a certificate at the start and every year.
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 film and tv location 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
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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.
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Last updated: 01/10/2026
