TOUR OPERATOR INSURANCE
A multi-day tour runs through hotels, nights, meals and a chain of suppliers you booked months ago. The tour doesn't stop at dinner. Here's how cover works when the tour lasts longer than a day.
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 multi-day tour operator need in Australia?
A multi-day tour operator generally needs public liability for guests hurt during the tour, and professional indemnity for accommodation, connection and itinerary failures, plus motor cover for any vehicle it runs. Multi-day tours add risks a day trip doesn't have: overnight stays, free time, luggage handling, guests falling ill far from home, and a chain of hotels and transport booked well in advance. PI can respond to a guest's extra costs when your booking or planning error causes them. It doesn't refund the tour price, and on the tour operator policies we arrange it generally excludes claims caused by a supplier's insolvency. Those two gaps shape your booking terms and your cash reserves.
For tours outside Australia, at least one specialist tour operator wording we place requires reasonable steps to make sure every guest holds comprehensive travel insurance. The guest chooses their own policy, and whether it covers supplier failure depends on that policy. General information only. It doesn't take into account your objectives, financial situation or needs, and it isn't legal advice.
You arrive at the third night's hotel and the booking was for the wrong dates. You pay for the only rooms left, 40 minutes away, and two guests claim for taxis and a lost morning. That's the kind of loss professional indemnity can respond to.
An older guest becomes unwell on day four in a country town. Your guide's decisions about calling for help, staying with them and continuing with the group all become part of the story if something goes wrong.
The group has a free evening, and a guest is hurt walking back from a restaurant your guide recommended. Whether you owe a duty in free time depends on what you arranged and said. Clear itinerary notes about what's included, and what isn't, help draw that line.
Your tour leader loads cases at each hotel and a guest's bag goes missing between the room and the vehicle. Property temporarily in your control can be written back by an extension on at least one wording we place, subject to a sub-limit on the schedule we hold (yours may differ), and the guest's travel insurance may also respond.
The ground handler booked for week two goes into administration before the tour starts. PI on the tour operator policies we arrange generally excludes claims caused by a supplier's insolvency, so the cost of rebooking sits with your business and your booking terms.
Floods close a region and the tour runs as a long bus trip past the places guests paid to see. A consumer law claim can go beyond a refund to loss of value and, in some cases, disappointment and distress. PI may respond to parts of it, depending on the cause, but not to the refund.
| Situation | Cover that may respond | What to know |
|---|---|---|
| Guest hurt at a hotel, restaurant or stop during the tour | Public liability | Can respond to your legal liability, subject to the wording. Where the hotel is at fault, its own policy may respond instead. |
| Wrong hotel dates or a missed connection costs guests money | Professional indemnity | Claims made basis. Report circumstances as soon as you know about them. |
| One itinerary error affects the whole group | Professional indemnity | On at least one wording we place, claims from one error can be treated as a single claim, with one limit and one excess. |
| Fixing an error before it becomes a claim | Professional indemnity (mitigation) | PI can pay to fix an error early, such as rebooking rooms, if you tell the insurer and get consent first. |
| Hotel, coach company or ground handler goes broke | Not insured | Supplier insolvency is generally excluded from PI on the tour operator policies we arrange. |
| Guest wants the tour price back | Not insured | PI doesn't refund the tour price. Refunds are governed by your terms and the Australian Consumer Law. See waivers and booking terms. |
| Guests claim loss of value and distress after a badly disrupted tour | Possibly professional indemnity, depending on the cause and the wording | A consumer guarantee claim needs no injury, so public liability won't respond. Ask us how the professional services on your schedule are described. |
Lost passports held by your tour leader fall outside the PI loss of documents extension on at least one wording we place, because it excludes documents entrusted by third parties. Keep passports with guests where you can.
At least one specialist tour operator PI wording we place excludes claims arising from the insolvency of an airline, carrier, hotel, ground handler, cruise operator, wholesaler or other supplier.
A gastro or respiratory outbreak on tour can be caught by the communicable and notifiable disease exclusions, which apply under both the liability and PI sections of at least one specialist tour operator wording we place.
Tours to destinations rated 'Do Not Travel' by the Australian Government before the tour starts are excluded on at least one specialist tour operator wording we place. If a rating changes mid-tour, that wording expects you to make every effort to bring guests home.
PI doesn't refund the tour price, and cancellation of a tour is excluded. Your booking terms carry that risk.
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 PI does and doesn't do. Professional indemnity can respond to a guest's losses caused by your professional error: the wrong dates, a missed transfer, rooms that were never confirmed. On the tour operator policies we arrange, PI generally won't refund the tour price, won't pay where a cost estimate was exceeded, and excludes claims caused by a supplier's insolvency. If a hotel goes broke and takes your deposits with it, that loss stays with your business. More in professional indemnity for tour operators.
Consumer law can ask for more than a refund. Under section 60 of the Australian Consumer Law, services come with a guarantee that they'll be rendered with due care and skill, and section 61 adds guarantees about fitness for a purpose or result the customer made known. In Moore v Scenic Tours Pty Ltd [2020] HCA 17, a European river cruise tour booked in 2012 was severely disrupted by flooding in 2013. The High Court restored the lead plaintiff's award of $10,990 for loss of value plus $2,000 for disappointment and distress, and held that the NSW threshold for non-economic loss didn't stop damages for distress that wasn't the result of an injury. Public liability won't respond without injury or property damage. Parts of a claim like that may fall to PI, depending on the wording and the cause, which is why the professional services described on your schedule need to match what you actually sell.
No fund behind you. The Travel Compensation Fund began winding down on 1 July 2014 and was scheduled to be wound up by the end of 2015. No statutory scheme replaced it. Industry accreditation is voluntary, and the accrediting body's own page says accreditation is not a guarantee of solvency, insurance or a compensation arrangement. When the Australian operations of an overseas travel group, trading under two tour brands, went into voluntary administration in September 2019, the ABC reported on a customer whose credit card travel insurance excluded insolvency. In 2025, the ABC reported that an administrators' report on a collapsed travel company, whose industry accreditation had been cancelled in March 2020, said customers were owed about $1.42 million and alleged it hadn't kept customer money in trust. When a Melbourne tour operator collapsed in 2026, the ABC reported its liquidator said refunds couldn't be paid.
What that means for your own tours. Three things are worth doing: booking terms that say what happens to money when a supplier fails, supplier checks recorded before you pay deposits, and guests who hold travel insurance, knowing their cover for supplier failure varies by policy. For tours outside Australia, at least one specialist tour operator wording we place makes the travel insurance step a condition, and it excludes tours to destinations rated 'Do Not Travel' before departure. See insurance for overseas tours and waivers and booking terms.
| Who asks | What they ask for | What to know |
|---|---|---|
| ATIA accreditation (travel industry scheme) | Evidence of adequate public liability and professional indemnity insurance, among eight criteria | The scheme is voluntary and its page states no minimum amounts. It also asks for certified financial accounts and a complaint handling policy. |
| Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service, nature based tourism business licence | $20 million public liability, shown before the contract issues | The standard contract runs 5 years, and accreditation with the state tourism industry council or an equivalent body is required within 12 months. |
| WA DBCA, commercial operations licence | Not less than $10 million per event for the licence period | A signed acknowledgement of indemnity goes in with the certificate, and it requires you to tell your insurer about the licence and its conditions. Send it to us first so we can check how it sits with your insurance. |
| WA public schools, for overnight school tours and camps | $20 million public liability and, if appropriate, $5 million professional liability | The department's procedures say staff must not sign waivers or indemnities that absolve a provider from its own negligence, so don't rely on your waiver for school work. |
| GetYourGuide, if you list multi-day tours | Liability cover on an occurrence form, kept for at least two years after the last booking is fulfilled | The terms also ask for primary and non-contributory cover and a waiver of subrogation, which need the underwriter's answer before you accept them. |
A European river cruise tour booked in 2012 was severely disrupted by flooding in May and June 2013. A representative action was brought on behalf of about 1,500 passengers across 13 cruises. In April 2020 the High Court restored the lead plaintiff's award of $10,990 for loss of value plus $2,000 for disappointment and distress under the Australian Consumer Law, and held that the NSW threshold for non-economic loss did not bar distress damages that weren't consequential on an injury.
The insurance lesson. Nobody was hurt, so this is not a public liability claim. On at least one specialist tour operator wording we place, PI can respond to civil liability from your professional services and can extend to consumer law claims, but it doesn't refund the tour price, and cancellation is excluded. How a claim like this would be treated depends on its cause and the wording. The control is what you do when you know an itinerary can't be delivered: tell guests early and offer the options your terms and the consumer guarantees require.
Source: High Court of Australia, Moore v Scenic Tours Pty Ltd [2020] HCA 17
The Australian and New Zealand operations of an overseas travel group, trading under two tour brands, went into voluntary administration on 19 September 2019. The ABC reported on a customer who had paid $40,000 for a trip and paid a further $5,000 to rebook a shorter one. His credit card travel insurance excluded insolvency.
The insurance lesson. There's no statutory compensation fund, and a guest's travel insurance may exclude supplier insolvency. PI on the tour operator policies we arrange also generally excludes claims caused by the insolvency of any supplier. If you package another operator's or wholesaler's product, record your checks on it and limit how far ahead you pay.
Source: ABC News, 25 September 2019, report on travel company collapses and consumer refunds
The Queensland Government said that between November 2020 and January 2021 a tour company had emailed 450 customers who held credits from cancelled trips to tell them they'd been booked on 2021 trips they hadn't asked for, and had represented that its terms allowed automatic rebooking. The Queensland Office of Fair Trading accepted an enforceable undertaking under the Australian Consumer Law. No court penalty was imposed.
The insurance lesson. How you handle credits and rebooking after a cancellation is a consumer law question, not an insured one. An enforceable undertaking isn't an insured loss, and cancellation is excluded on the tour operator policies we arrange. Have your credit, rebooking and refund terms reviewed, and don't change a guest's booking without their agreement.
Source: Queensland Government, media statement on a tour company's enforceable undertaking (16 July 2021)
Describe each day plainly, with walking distances, steps, terrain and heat, so guests can judge for themselves whether the tour suits them. Invite guests to tell you anything they'd like the tour leader to know, such as mobility aids or an emergency contact, and make sure what they share reaches the person leading the tour, not just the office. Agree in advance who the leader calls when a guest becomes unwell.
Mark each day's itinerary with what's included and what's free time, and give guests an after-hours contact number. A duty of care can extend to things you organised or recommended, so be clear about what you did and didn't arrange.
Record what you checked about each hotel, coach company and ground handler, and hold certificates of currency from those that carry liability risk. Keep customer money separate from operating funds. The ABC reported that a 2025 administrators' report on a collapsed travel company alleged customer money hadn't been kept in trust.
For tours outside Australia, at least one specialist tour operator wording we place requires reasonable steps to make sure every guest holds comprehensive travel insurance. Put the requirement in your booking terms and record each guest's policy details. Leave the choice of policy to the guest: recommending or arranging a particular travel insurance policy can be a regulated financial service, so get advice before you do. Smartraveller advises travellers to check whether a policy covers cancellation if a destination's advice level rises after booking.
Lost client documents fall outside the PI loss of documents extension on at least one wording we place. For inbound groups in Queensland, the state's code of conduct also says tour guides must not withhold a tourist's money, passport or documents.
PI on the tour operator policies we arrange is claims made, and on at least one wording we place it can pay to fix an error before it becomes a claim if you tell the insurer and get consent first. Tell us about a wrong booking or a missed connection as soon as you know, not after the tour.
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 multi-day 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
