A fall on garden steps
Mossy stone steps, a loose paver or a hidden lawn edge. If the claim says your guide led the group down a path the owner had roped off, or rushed a slower guest, it lands on your public liability as well as the owner's.
TOUR OPERATOR INSURANCE
Garden Tour Insurance
A coach of keen gardeners, a private garden opened for the day, gravel paths, stone steps and a pond. You're a guest on someone else's property, and that shapes the insurance.
$20MPublic liability limit available
PI + PLProfessional indemnity and public liability, together or on separate policies
Owner's landEach private garden has its own occupier, and its own requests
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 garden tour business need in Australia?
A garden tour operator generally needs public liability for injury to guests and damage to the garden owner's property, plus professional indemnity for errors in itineraries, bookings or advice. On an open private garden tour, the owner is the occupier and you're bringing a paying group onto their land, so both of you can owe guests a duty of care. Owners can ask to see your certificate of currency, or ask you to indemnify them. The tour-specific risks are uneven paths, steps, ponds and ornaments, and damage to plants and features the owner took years to grow. Where your guests are older, heat and mobility come into it too. Garden tours are a tour type the specialist markets we approach are set up to quote, subject to each insurer's assessment.
The coach between gardens is a separate risk. Injury caused by a registered vehicle, including a chartered coach, is excluded from public liability on the tour operator policies we arrange. The state CTP scheme may respond, but in Queensland, WA and SA that depends on fault. 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
- PL limit available
- Up to $20 million
- Owners may ask
- Certificate of currency, sometimes an indemnity
- Watch for
- Steps, ponds, heat and indemnity clauses
Damage to the garden
A guest steps into a bed of rare bulbs, knocks a sculpture off its plinth, or the group churns up a wet lawn. Damage to the owner's property during your tour is a public liability matter, subject to the excess.
A pond with no barrier
Ponds, dams and water features without a fence. A guest who wanders off while the group is being briefed, or a grandchild on a family garden day, can end up in the water.
Heat and stings
A long afternoon in an exposed garden in summer, or a bee sting for a guest with a known allergy. How your guide spotted the problem and responded is what a claim turns on.
The garden isn't open
The open day was cancelled, the date in your itinerary was wrong, or the lunch booking at the garden cafe wasn't made. Knock-on costs from an error in your planning are a professional indemnity question.
| Situation | Cover that may respond | What to know |
|---|---|---|
| Guest trips on the owner's path while following your guide | Public liability can respond, yours and possibly the owner's | Both of you can owe a duty of care. Where the owner's property was at fault, the owner's own cover may respond. |
| Guest damages plants, sculpture or garden furniture | Public liability can respond | Excess applies. One wording we place sets it at $1,000. Brief guests on where they can walk. |
| The owner asks you to indemnify them or note them on your policy | Public liability, indemnity to others | The policy can extend to the owner as far as your own liability would go. Extra liability taken on only by contract isn't covered. |
| Guest injured on the coach between gardens | CTP scheme, which may respond, and the coach operator's cover | The 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. |
| A garden visit or lunch falls through because of your booking error | Professional indemnity can respond | Claims made basis. PI doesn't refund the tour price itself. |
| Guest stung, or overcome by heat, in the garden | Public liability, if you're liable | Only where you were legally liable, for example by ignoring a known allergy. Personal accident cover, a separate policy, pays set benefits under its own terms. |
Plants guests buy from a garden's nursery stall are the owner's products, not yours. If you sell plants, seeds or produce yourself, tell the underwriter, because they're products you've supplied.
- Whether the gardens are private homes opened for your group, public gardens, or both
- Whether garden owners ask you to sign an agreement, indemnity or waiver, and what it says
- Terrain at the gardens you visit: steps, slopes, ponds, dams and unfenced edges
- Guests' ages and mobility, and how you plan for heat, rest stops and toilets
- Who provides transport between gardens, and the vehicle types
- Whether you sell plants, seeds or produce, or cater a garden lunch yourself
- Group size and the guide-to-guest ratio
- Annual revenue, years operating and any claims or incidents
The owner's own liability
Your policy is for your liability, not the owner's liability as occupier. Owners hosting paid groups should ask their own insurer whether their home policy extends to business visitors.
Agreements that waive your rights
If an owner's agreement asks you to give up the right to recover from them, signing it without the insurer's consent can remove cover for that claim. Send it to us first so we can check how it sits with your insurance, and have your lawyer review the contract.
The coach
Injury from a registered vehicle, including a chartered coach, is excluded from public liability. The state CTP scheme may respond, but in Queensland, WA and SA that depends on fault.
Illness from a garden lunch
Food you supply is treated as a product, but illness from a notifiable or communicable disease can be excluded. Salmonellosis and listeriosis, for example, are on the national notifiable disease list. If you cater the lunch rather than the garden, check with the underwriter.
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.
Two duties of care. Whoever occupies or controls a property can owe visitors a duty of reasonable care, and a tour operator who brings a group onto that property owes its own duty to those guests. On a private garden tour, that means the owner is answerable for the state of their paths and steps, and you're answerable for where you lead the group, what you tell them and how you manage them. A claim after a fall can name both of you, and each insurer responds for its own insured. Our public liability guide explains how that cover responds.
What owners ask for. An owner opening a garden to a commercial group can ask for a certificate of currency, to be noted as an interested party, or for an indemnity. Tour operator policies we arrange can extend cover to a party you've agreed to indemnify, but generally only as far as you'd have been liable anyway. Liability you take on purely because of the contract isn't covered, and agreeing not to recover from the owner without the insurer's consent can remove cover for that claim. Wordings differ on this point. At least one published Australian tour operator wording automatically covers parties you must insure under a contract, and at least one wording we place does not, so it may need to be requested. More in waivers and booking terms.
Practical controls. Walk each garden with the owner before the season, agree the route and any no-go areas, and brief guests at the gate. Plan for steps, heat and rest points, and keep a note of what you checked. Those notes are your evidence if a claim arrives months later. Public liability on the tour operator policies we arrange can respond to injury that happened while the policy was in force, even if the claim comes after it ends, subject to its terms.
Old trees and where the group stands. Established gardens are built around mature trees. Two branch falls in public gardens, in Darwin in 2023 and in Kings Park in 2024, happened where the managing authority said it had inspected its trees beforehand, as the cases below set out. Inspecting trees is a matter for whoever manages the land. What you control is whether the group stands under old canopy for a talk or a lunch, and whether the visit goes ahead in high wind.
| Who asks | What they ask for | What to know |
|---|---|---|
| Councils, where a garden day includes a council park or garden | Brisbane City Council asks for a certificate of currency for $20 million for commercial activity in a Council park. City of Melbourne asks for $20 million for a permit in its public spaces | City of Melbourne wants the City named as an interested party and an APRA-authorised insurer. A $20 million limit is available and meets these public liability minimums, so confirm with us how the certificate will satisfy the insurer and wording requirements, and ask the council before you publish the date. |
| Quality Tourism Accreditation | $10 million public liability and a certificate of currency | The standards also ask for a risk management statement, an incident report form and at least one first-aid-trained staff member on duty. If you hold less than $10 million, a written explanation is required. |
| Viator | Valid public liability insurance, described as a mandatory global baseline in its August 2026 supplier agreement | Viator sets the minimum by activity and destination. Expired or insufficient documents freeze new sales until updated ones are approved. |
Branch fall in a botanic garden, Darwin (ABC News, October 2023)
A branch fell on two visitors walking in the George Brown Darwin Botanic Gardens in October 2023. One died and the other was taken to hospital. The managing department said a garden-wide tree audit in July 2023 had not identified the tree as high risk, and it closed the gardens while an external arborist assessed them. The visitors were not on a tour, and we are not aware of any finding of fault.
The insurance lesson. It shows where the line sits in a garden. Inspecting trees is a matter for whoever manages the land. Your public liability can respond only to your own legal liability, such as choosing to stop a group under old canopy on a windy day. Ask owners when their large trees were last inspected.
Source: ABC News, 9 October 2023
Branch falls on a crowd, Kings Park, Perth (ABC News, January 2024)
A large branch fell on people gathered in Kings Park for Australia Day fireworks in January 2024. Six people were affected. Two went to hospital as a precaution and were released. The parks authority said visual safety assessments of trees on that avenue had been done twice that week with acceptable results.
The insurance lesson. A recent inspection doesn't remove the risk, so where a group gathers still matters. Your policy comes into it if your own decision about where to seat or stand a group is questioned.
Source: ABC News, 26 January 2024
Walk the garden with the owner first
Before the season, agree the route, the no-go areas and where the group can gather. Write it down and date it, and ask when the large trees were last inspected.
Brief at the gate
Tell guests where the steps, ponds and soft edges are, which beds are off limits and where the seats are. Offer the level route before anyone has to ask for it.
A wind and heat rule
Decide in advance what forecast moves a talk out from under old trees, shortens an exposed garden or cancels the visit. Carry water and plan shade and rest points for a summer afternoon.
Send owner agreements to us before you sign
An indemnity, a hold harmless clause or a waiver of your recovery rights can change your cover. Send them to us so we can check how they sit with your insurance, and have your lawyer review the contract.
Declare allergens if you cater
If you supply the lunch or morning tea, Food Standards Australia New Zealand says allergen declarations for food that doesn't need a label must be displayed with the food or given on request, using the required names. Ask about allergies at booking.
First aid and an incident record
Safe Work Australia's model first aid code says CPR should be refreshed every year and first aid qualifications renewed every three years. Record falls, stings and near misses on the day, with the route and briefing you gave.
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 garden 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
- ABC News: branch fall at Darwin Botanic Gardens (9 October 2023)
- ABC News: tree branch falls on people at Kings Park (26 January 2024)
- Brisbane City Council: commercial activity in a park
- City of Melbourne: public liability insurance
- Quality Tourism Australia: accreditation standards
- Viator: updated supplier agreement, August 2026
- Food Standards Australia New Zealand: allergen labelling for food businesses
- Australian Centre for Disease Control: national notifiable diseases
- Business Queensland: liquor licence exemptions
- Liquor and Gaming NSW: when a liquor licence isn't required
- Victorian Government: do you need a liquor licence
- Safe Work Australia: model Code of Practice, First aid in the workplace
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Garden Tour Insurance FAQs
The owner is inviting a paying group onto their home, and can ask for a certificate of currency before they agree. Your public liability can respond to your legal liability if a guest is hurt or the garden is damaged during your tour, subject to the wording. It also pays defence costs for a covered claim, on top of the limit, up to the costs cap.
It depends on the facts. The owner, as occupier, owes visitors reasonable care for the state of the property. You owe your guests care in where you lead them and how you manage the group. A claim can name both, and each insurer responds for its own insured. Your briefing, the route you agreed with the owner and any hazards you pointed out all matter.
Accidental damage to someone else's property during your tour is generally a public liability matter, subject to the excess, which one wording we place sets at $1,000. Property you've borrowed or hired from the owner, such as chairs or trestles for a garden lunch, is in your care, custody or control, which is excluded except for a limited extension. Brief guests on paths and fragile areas at the gate.
Send it to us first so we can check how it sits with your insurance, and have your lawyer review the contract. Tour operator policies we arrange can extend to a party you've agreed to indemnify, but generally only to the extent you'd have been liable anyway. Extra liability you accept by contract isn't covered, and waiving your right to recover from the owner without the insurer's consent can remove cover for that claim.
Your duty of care is measured against the guests you actually take. If your bookings lean older, the underwriter will ask about steps, slopes, heat, rest stops and what you do when a guest can't manage part of a garden. Write down your route checks and briefings. Public liability pays only when you're legally liable. Personal accident cover, a separate policy, pays set benefits under its own terms.
It depends on the state. Queensland exempts a tour operator selling liquor to an adult on a booked tour, up to two standard drinks per person per day, outside restricted areas and hours. NSW has no tour exemption, and Liquor and Gaming NSW says drinks offered as part of a package price need a licence. Victoria also requires a licence where alcohol is included in a ticket price. Check with the state regulator, and tell the underwriter.
We don't publish a separate price for garden 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 number of gardens, group sizes, guests' ages, any catering and your revenue move the price. Coach hire and any vehicle you own are insured separately. It is not a quote.
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QUOTE REQUEST
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PI and Public Liability for Your Tours
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