TOUR OPERATOR INSURANCE
Dark stairs, lantern light, a building with a past and a guide whose job is to make people jump. The underwriter wants to know where you go after dark and who let you in. Here is how ghost 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 ghost tour business need?
A ghost tour operator generally needs public liability for injury to guests in the dark and damage to the buildings you visit, plus professional indemnity for booking and advice errors. Ghost tours stack several risks into one night: poor light, old stairs and cellars, naked flames in lanterns or candles, and a script designed to startle people. On at least one specialist wording we place, personal injury includes psychological harm such as shock, fright and mental anguish, so public liability can respond to it where you're legally liable, subject to the wording and schedule. The other big question is permission. Owners of gaols, asylums, hotels and private heritage buildings can set conditions before they let you in after hours, and the underwriter will want to know what you've agreed to.
Ghost tours are among the tour types the specialist markets we approach are set up to quote, subject to each insurer's assessment. Tell the underwriter about any actors, props or overnight events. General information only. It doesn't take into account your objectives, financial situation or needs, and it isn't legal advice.
A cellar stair in lantern light, a worn gaol step or a courtyard with no lighting. A hazard that is easy to see by day is hard to see at night, so if the claim says your guide led the group down without enough light or warning, it becomes a public liability claim against you.
An actor jumps out, a guest recoils into a wall, or a guest with a heart condition has a panic attack. On at least one specialist wording we place, physical injury and psychological harm such as shock or fright both fall within personal injury, if you're legally liable.
A naked flame near old timber, curtains or a display in a heritage building. Fire damage to someone else's property is public liability, but the size of a heritage restoration bill is a reason to check your limit and the owner's rules on flames.
The group wanders into a closed wing, or a route crosses private land without the owner's permission. Going where you have no permission to be can bring a complaint or a claim from the owner, and it can also breach the conditions of your access to the rest of the site.
A guest drifts away from the group in a large site and is hurt in an area you didn't plan to use. Head counts, a guide at the back and clear meeting points are the controls the underwriter looks for.
| Situation | Cover that may respond | What to know |
|---|---|---|
| Guest trips on stairs or in a cellar during a night tour | Public liability | Can respond to your legal liability, subject to the wording and schedule. Torches, route choice and briefings are the controls the underwriter looks for. |
| Guest suffers shock or a panic attack after a scare | Public liability | On at least one specialist wording we place, personal injury includes shock, fright and mental anguish, where you're legally liable. |
| An actor grabs or pushes a guest | May be excluded | Assault by you or your staff is excluded on at least one specialist wording we place unless it was done to protect people or property. Keep scares hands-off. |
| A lantern or candle damages the building | Public liability | Damage to someone else's property. If the building is in your care, custody or control after hours, a narrower, sub-limited extension applies instead. |
| Owner asks you to indemnify them for after-hours access | Public liability (indemnity to others) | Can respond only as far as your own liability would go. Don't release the owner or waive recovery rights without the insurer's consent. See waivers and booking terms. |
| A tour is cancelled and guests want a refund | Not insured | Cancellation is excluded, and PI doesn't refund the tour price. |
A waiver your guests sign and a waiver you sign for a building owner are different things. The first is about your guests' claims against you. The second can give away the insurer's right to recover from the owner, and on at least one specialist wording we place that can remove cover if it's signed without the insurer's prior consent. Our guide to what's covered and what's excluded explains both.
Assault by you or your staff is excluded on at least one specialist wording we place unless it was done to protect people or property. A scripted grab or shove a guest didn't agree to is the kind of act to keep out of the show.
Stag and hen parties are excluded on at least one specialist wording we place. If a pub ghost walk takes those bookings, raise it at quote stage.
Caving is on the excluded list. A ghost tour that goes into a cave, or into old mine workings, needs that part checked with the underwriter.
On at least one specialist wording we place, property in your care, custody or control is excluded except under a narrower, sub-limited extension. If you hold the keys and no owner's staff are on site, ask the underwriter how damage to the building is treated before you rely on the main limit.
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.
Permission to enter. A claim after a fall in a building can be aimed at the owner, at the operator who led the group through it, or at both. Without the owner's permission you have no agreed right to be there and no agreed rules. With it, the owner can set conditions: insurance, an indemnity, which rooms you use and whether flames are allowed. If you hold the keys and have the building to yourself after hours, ask the underwriter how that's treated, because on at least one specialist wording we place, property in your care, custody or control is excluded except under a narrower, sub-limited extension.
Who leads inside the gates. At some of the best-known sites the question answers itself. As at October 2026, Port Arthur's agent handbook and Fremantle Prison's group information both say the site's own guides lead tours inside. If that is your model, your liability sits mostly outside the gates: the walk to the site, the transport, the booking and what you promised. If your own guide leads inside a privately owned building, more of the night is yours. Tell the underwriter which it is.
Night-time risk. A hazard that is easy to see in daylight is hard to see at night. That's why the underwriter asks about torches, route choice, head counts and which areas you skip in the wet. Heritage buildings can restrict new lighting and handrails, so your controls are mostly briefings, a guide at the back, and how you move the group through tight spaces. Our risk management guide shows how to write those down.
'They knew it was dark' has limits. Guests on a ghost tour know they'll be walking in low light. That doesn't settle every claim. In Tapp v Australian Bushmen's Campdraft & Rodeo Association Ltd [2022] HCA 11, a NSW case about a horse event and not a tour, the High Court's majority said a risk has to be described at the same level of detail for the obvious risk defence as for the negligence claim. There, the risk was the specific deteriorated ground the organisers had been warned about. For a ghost tour, the practical point is that a known broken step or an unlit drop is a specific hazard, and darkness in general is not an answer to it.
The scare. At least one specialist wording we place defines personal injury to include shock, fright and mental anguish, so a guest harmed by a scare can claim for more than a bruise, if you're legally liable. Describe the tour at booking, including darkness, stairs and sudden loud scares, so guests can decide whether it suits them. Set a minimum age, and give guests a way to opt out of the loudest parts. Keep actors hands-off, because assault by you or your staff is excluded unless it was done to protect people or property.
| Who asks | What they ask for | What to know |
|---|---|---|
| Gaols and historic sites that run their own tours (Port Arthur Historic Site, Fremantle Prison) | No insurance requirement for visiting operators is published. The site's own guides lead tours inside | Terms sit in the site's trade agreement. Ask for it early. The site's own liability cover protects the site, not your business. |
| Trust and privately owned heritage buildings | Not published. The National Trust in Victoria, whose places include Old Melbourne Gaol, states no insurance or operator terms on its group bookings page | Expect the requirement to arrive in an access agreement. Send it to us before you sign, especially any indemnity or release. |
| City of Hobart (permits for public streets) | A certificate of currency for public liability of at least $10 million | Relevant where a night walk needs a permit to occupy a public street. Commercial activity in the City's parks needs separate approval. |
| Place Management NSW (The Rocks, Darling Harbour) | For events and venue hire: no less than $20 million, with Place Management NSW noted as an interested party | No tour-specific licence is published for The Rocks. Ask the authority what applies to a commercial night walk. |
| Viator and GetYourGuide | Viator: valid public liability as a mandatory baseline, with minimums it sets by activity risk. GetYourGuide: no dollar figure, but occurrence-based, primary and non-contributory cover with a waiver of recovery rights | Expired documents can freeze new sales on Viator. Put GetYourGuide's clauses to the insurer before you accept them. |
Give each guide a torch and a spare, put a second torch at the back of the group, and tell guests they can use phone torches on stairs. Decide in writing which stairs, cellars and yards you skip in the wet. Lantern light is atmosphere, not safety lighting.
Use battery lanterns unless the building owner has agreed to naked flames in writing and you have told the underwriter. A heritage interior is expensive to restore, and a building you hold the keys to may be treated as property in your care, custody or control.
Describe the darkness, stairs and loudest scares at booking and again at the start, so guests can judge whether the tour suits them. Set a minimum age. Tell guests which parts are loudest and give them a way to step out.
Write it into the contract with each actor and guide: no touching, grabbing or blocking guests. Assault by you or your staff is excluded on at least one specialist wording we place unless it was done to protect people or property.
Count the group at the entry and exit of every building and after every dark section, with a guide or nominated guest at the back. Agree a meeting point guests can find without light.
Quality Tourism Accreditation requires at least one staff member trained in first aid to be available during operations, and the first aid code of practice says CPR should be refreshed every year. Log every fall and near miss. A serious injury can trigger a duty to notify the work health and safety regulator immediately.
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 ghost 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
