TOUR OPERATOR INSURANCE
When you need a liquor licence, who answers for an intoxicated guest, and how the disease exclusions affect a food illness claim.
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
Do I need a liquor licence to serve drinks on a tour?
It depends on the state and on who pours. Where a venue serves your guests under its own liquor licence, the service sits with the venue. Where you supply the drinks, you need a licence, permit or authorisation unless a tour exemption applies. We found one in Queensland, Western Australia and the ACT, each with tight conditions. In NSW and Victoria, the regulators say drinks bundled into a ticket price need a licence. On insurance, food and drink you supply is generally treated as a product on the tour operator policies we arrange, but illness from a communicable or notifiable disease can be excluded. Wordings differ between insurers, and how those exclusions apply to a food illness claim is a question for the underwriter. Raise it before you bind.
An allergic reaction isn't a disease, but how a claim is treated still depends on the wording, so raise it with the underwriter. General information only. It doesn't take into account your objectives, financial situation or needs, and it isn't legal advice.
The venue pours. At a cellar door, brewery or restaurant, the venue serves your guests under its own liquor licence, with its own trained staff. Your job is to check the venue's licence covers a visiting group, collect its certificate of currency, and supervise your guests.
You supply. A glass of sparkling at a lookout, a picnic with wine, or drinks on the bus are yours. In five of the eight states and territories we found no tour exemption, so that takes a licence, permit or authorisation. The other three have an exemption written for tours, and each one is narrow.
Drinks in the ticket price. Calling a drink complimentary doesn't make it free. Liquor and Gaming NSW says a licence is required if free drinks are offered as part of a package, such as an entry fee or bundled service. Victoria's regulator says a licence is needed where alcohol is included in the ticket price.
| State | Tour exemption? | Conditions, or what applies instead |
|---|---|---|
| NSW | No | No exemption for tours, buses or limousines. An on-premises licence can carry an authorisation to sell liquor to people on a commercial tour the licensee runs, and food must be available whenever liquor is supplied under it (Liquor Regulation 2018 cl 46). Free drinks offered as part of a package need a licence. |
| Victoria | No | Tour operators, limousines and buses are not on the regulator's list of exempt businesses. Alcohol included in a ticket price needs a licence. A limited licence exists for supply that is limited in scale and scope. |
| Queensland | Yes | Liquor Act 1992 s 14B(1)(k): a sale by a tour operator to an adult on a tour booked with that operator. No more than 2 standard drinks per participant in a day. Not in a restricted area. Not on Christmas Day or Good Friday, before 1pm on Anzac Day, or between 2am and 10am on any other day. |
| South Australia | No | No tour or vehicle exemption is listed. Outside the listed circumstances, a liquor licence is required to sell or supply alcohol. |
| Western Australia | Yes, free drinks only | Liquor Control Regulations 1989 reg 8CA: a tourism business certified under the Australian Tourism Accreditation Program, supplying adults without charge as an ancillary part of a tourism service. The supplier needs approved responsible service training. Not on premises with a liquor licence, a road or a restricted area. Reg 8F lets adult passengers drink in an on-demand charter vehicle booked in advance for at least one continuous hour, equipped for no more than 14 adult passengers. |
| Tasmania | No | No general liquor exemption for tours or vehicles, and under the Liquor Licensing Act 1990 premises include a means of transport. The Act provides for a special permit (s 15) or a special licence (s 11). |
| ACT | Yes, free drinks only | Liquor Act 2010 s 8A(3)(e): a limousine or tour business that provides services to no more than 12 adults, supplies no more than 2 standard drinks per person, and supplies them without charge as an ancillary part of the service. Never to a child or young person. |
| Northern Territory | No | No tour exemption in the Liquor Act 2019. A licence is needed to sell liquor, and to supply or serve it on premises used for a business purpose. A special venture authority covers sale as an ancillary part of the licensee's services. |
Responsible service of alcohol (RSA). In NSW, RSA training applies to anyone involved in the sale, service or supply of alcohol, including winery and brewery staff and volunteers. The Western Australian exemption only applies if the person supplying has approved training. In the Northern Territory, a licensee must make sure staff who serve patrons hold an RSA certificate. Queensland's exemption guidance is silent on RSA for exempt tour sales, so ask the regulator.
In Cole v South Tweed Heads Rugby League Football Club Ltd [2004] HCA 29, a patron who had been drinking at a club for hours was hit by a car after leaving. The club had offered safe transport and she refused it. The High Court rejected the claim that the club had a duty to monitor her drinking or see her safely home. In C.A.L. No 14 Pty Ltd v Motor Accidents Insurance Board [2009] HCA 47, a Tasmanian hotel licensee had agreed to hold a patron's motorcycle keys. He later demanded them back, rode off intoxicated and died. The High Court held no relevant duty of care was owed.
State law adds to this. Queensland's Civil Liability Act 2003 says a person is not owed a duty of care merely because they are intoxicated, but that protection does not affect liability arising out of conduct on premises with a liquor licence. Tasmania, Western Australia and the Northern Territory presume contributory negligence where the injured person was intoxicated.
None of that answers a claim by someone else the drinker injures, a breach of responsible service rules, or an injury caused by your own negligence. In Packer v Tall Ship Sailing Cruises Australia Pty Ltd [2015] QCA 108, a passenger boarding a day cruise vessel was punched by a member of another group that had been drinking. The operator won, but only after a trial and an appeal. Plan how guests get home after the last tasting. Where you provide the vehicle, see vehicles and passenger liability.
At least one specialist tour operator wording we place has no liquor exclusion in its base public liability text. Wordings differ between insurers, so confirm with us that the wording quoting your tours has none, and that no endorsement on your schedule adds one.
Stag and hen parties are on the excluded activity list of at least one specialist tour operator wording we place. Where that applies, a winery or brewery day sold as a bucks or hens event would have to go to a different market, with no certainty one will offer terms.
Food and drink supplied to guests is treated as a product, which brings products liability into play. That limit applies in the aggregate for the year, not per occurrence.
Where a restaurant or producer prepares and serves the food, it is their product and they carry their own liability insurance for it, but a guest can still claim against you as the business that sold the tour. Where you hand out a picnic lunch, pour tastings or run a cooking class, you are the supplier.
Hands-on experiences raise the stakes. In April 2022, a 330-litre still exploded during a booked gin-making experience at a winery's own distillery in Rutherglen, Victoria, with no tour seller involved, injuring two staff and seven guests. The company pleaded guilty to WorkSafe Victoria charges and in October 2024 was fined $50,000 without conviction, plus costs. If your guests take part in production, collect the venue's certificate and ask what written operating procedure it follows, and how it makes sure whoever runs the session has it. Where your guests are on a hands-on stop, the venue's own public liability certificate is the one to check.
Standard 3.2.2A. This Food Standards Code standard took effect in December 2023. It applies to food service, catering and retail businesses that handle unpackaged, potentially hazardous food that is ready to eat. Depending on the category, the business needs a food safety supervisor, trained food handlers, and records of its key food safety controls. If you only book venues, this sits with them. If you prepare and serve food yourself, ask your council which category you fall into.
Allergen declarations. Plain English Allergen Labelling requirements came into force on 25 February 2024. For food that doesn't need a label, such as food served at a cafe, allergen declarations must be displayed with the food or given to the purchaser on request, using the required names. That is the basis for asking every venue for an allergen matrix.
| State | Food business notification or registration |
|---|---|
| NSW | Mobile food vendors and similar retail food outlets notify the local council of their business and food activity details. |
| Victoria | Temporary and mobile food premises register or notify through FoodTrader, and applications go to the council. |
| Queensland | A council food business licence is needed if you manufacture food or sell unpackaged food by retail. It isn't needed where the business consists only of items such as unpackaged snack food, whole fruit or drinks. |
| South Australia | All food businesses notify the enforcement agency, usually the council, before opening. There is no fee. |
| Western Australia | Most food businesses register with the local government where the business is located, with a small number registering with the Department of Health. |
| ACT | Most businesses selling food register with the ACT Health Protection Service, mobile food businesses included. |
| Northern Territory | You must register before operating if your main business is selling food. Low-risk packaged food and complimentary beverages don't need registration. |
| Tasmania | Check with your council and the Department of Health before you supply food. |
At least one specialist tour operator wording we place excludes communicable disease, and separately excludes any disease that is notifiable to government under any law. Those exclusions sit alongside the products liability cover for food and drink you supply. So on that wording, a claim that your picnic lunch made guests ill can still be excluded, depending on the diagnosis.
Salmonellosis, listeriosis, campylobacteriosis, Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) and hepatitis A are on the national notifiable disease list published by the Australian Centre for Disease Control. States and territories keep their own lists too. The communicable disease exclusion is separate and doesn't depend on any list, so an illness that isn't notifiable can still be excluded. Don't read a disease's absence from a list as cover.
Wordings differ. At least one published Australian tour operator wording has no communicable disease exclusion in its base text, and excludes microorganisms but keeps cover for injury from products intended to be eaten or drunk. Endorsements and schedules can change any wording, so the base text is only a starting point. The specialist wording we place described above has neither feature. Ask the underwriter how a food illness claim would be treated before you bind, and get the answer in writing. The wider list is in what's covered and what's excluded.
Two public health investigations show how food and animal-contact illness can reach groups of visitors. In October 2014, an organised tour group ate food from a Gold Coast restaurant and flew to Sydney. Twelve of the 27 passengers became ill and four were hospitalised overnight. Investigators linked it to a toxin-producing Staphylococcus aureus and to food handling at the restaurant. In August 2013, at least 12 people fell ill after visiting an animal petting area at an agricultural show in Brisbane, and four tested positive for STEC. That outbreak was at a show, not on a tour. Neither report records litigation. More examples are in our tour operator claims and court cases guide.
Ask every guest about allergies in writing, and pass the answers to each venue.
Ask venues for the allergens in each dish or tasting, and have the guide carry it.
Record, stop by stop, whether the venue pours or you supply. If you supply, confirm the licence, permit or exemption.
Train anyone who pours or hands out alcohol, and keep the certificates on file.
Say in your booking terms that guides can refuse service to an intoxicated guest.
Plan how guests leave the last venue. Don't end a tasting tour where guests have to drive.
This page is general information only. It doesn't take into account your objectives, financial situation or needs, and it isn't legal advice. Cover depends on the policy wording, schedule, endorsements and the underwriter's assessment. Rules as at October 2026. Check the current position with the regulator in your state. For the wider set of controls underwriters ask about, see risk management for tour operators.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
RELATED GUIDES
QUOTE REQUEST
Tell us the tours you run, which venues pour and where you supply food or drink yourself, the states you operate in, group sizes, and the limits you need.
Send us your tour descriptions, who serves the food and drink at each stop, and the licences you hold. We'll put the disease and alcohol questions to the insurers we approach for your tours and come back with their responses and the options available.
Last updated: 03/10/2026
