TOUR OPERATOR INSURANCE
Queenstown's adventure menu, Rotorua's geothermal parks, a fiord by boat and a three-hour flight home. Here is how cover works for Australian operators running tours across the Tasman.
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 an Australian operator running New Zealand tours need?
An Australian business running tours in New Zealand generally needs public liability that can respond outside Australia for injury to guests and damage to property, plus professional indemnity for itinerary and booking errors. On at least one specialist tour operator wording we place, New Zealand counts as an overseas tour: you must take reasonable steps to make sure every guest holds comprehensive travel insurance, and you must take reasonable steps to make sure New Zealand contractors hold at least USD 1 million liability or the local equivalent. The bigger issue is adventure. Bungee, heli-hiking, skydiving, white water rafting, canyoning, zip lines and skiing are all excluded on that wording's endorsement, so if you sell them as part of the tour, that part needs a different market.
Coaches, campervans and self-drive legs sit outside public liability, and the endorsement excludes your own vehicle in a foreign country. General information only. It doesn't take into account your objectives, financial situation or needs, and it isn't legal advice.
The itinerary includes a free afternoon in Queenstown and you sell a bungee jump or a heli-hike as an extra. If a guest is hurt, the claim can point at the business that sold and scheduled it. On at least one endorsement we place, both activities are excluded.
Boiling mud, steam vents and thin crust sit metres from the marked paths. If a guide lets the group off the track for a photo, or a guest wanders while the group is spread out, it becomes a question of supervision and briefing under public liability.
The group transfers to a sightseeing boat at a wet wharf and a guest falls on the gangway. The boat operator's own cover may respond. On at least one wording we place, boats over 8 metres used by or for you are excluded unless someone else owns and operates the boat and it is used for business entertainment. Whether a paid sightseeing cruise qualifies is an open question for the underwriter.
A contracted day trip runs on unsealed or rough roads and a guest is hurt inside the bus. The tour operator policies we arrange generally exclude injury caused by a registered vehicle from public liability, and the bus operator's motor cover may respond. A guest can still bring a claim against you as the seller, so how you chose the operator and what you checked matter.
Snow or a slip closes the road to the fiord and the group loses the day it came for. Cancellation is excluded, and a closure nobody caused isn't a PI claim. Your booking terms decide what guests get back.
You tell a guest a glacier valley walk suits their fitness when the terrain says otherwise, and they're injured. Advice given as part of your paid service can sit between public liability and PI. Tell the underwriter what suitability advice you give.
| Situation | Cover that may respond | What to know |
|---|---|---|
| Guest injured on a guided walk, at a lookout or in a geothermal park | Public liability can respond | Worldwide territory is available. The attraction may respond under its own cover if its site was at fault. |
| Guest injured on an adventure activity you sold (bungee, heli-hike, rafting, skydive) | Excluded on at least one wording we place | Excluded by that wording's tour operator endorsement. Needs a different market. |
| Guest injured through a New Zealand contractor's conduct | Public liability can respond to your own liability | You must take reasonable steps to confirm the contractor holds at least USD 1 million liability or the local equivalent, with a certificate at the start and every year. This is the minimum on the schedule we hold; yours may differ. |
| Guest injured on a coach, minibus or in a campervan | The vehicle's motor cover may respond | Registered vehicles are excluded from public liability, and your own vehicle in a foreign country is excluded. A guest can still bring a claim against you. |
| Wrong ferry, flight or lodge booking costs guests money | Professional indemnity can respond | Claims made basis. PI can respond to extra costs, not a refund of the tour price. |
| Road closure or weather cancels a day | Not insured | Cancellation is excluded. Your booking terms decide what guests get back, and some guests' travel insurance may respond, depending on the policy they chose. |
New Zealand runs its own accident compensation scheme (ACC). The Accident Compensation Act 2001 bars court proceedings in New Zealand for damages for personal injury the scheme covers (section 317), though exemplary damages remain possible there (section 319). The bar is worded for New Zealand courts. It doesn't address a claim brought in Australia against the business that sold the tour, so don't assume it removes your exposure. More in our guide to insurance for overseas tours.
Bungee jumping, parachuting, paragliding, zip lines, canyoning, caving and white water rafting are all excluded on at least one endorsement we place. Jetboat rides aren't named on the list, but tell the underwriter, because they're a third-party thrill ride on water.
On at least one wording we place, helicopter activities, heli-hiking and heli-skiing are excluded, and so are aircraft of any kind used by or for you. A glacier heli-hike or a scenic flight over the Southern Alps needs a different market.
On at least one wording we place, skiing, snowboarding, ice climbing and mountaineering are excluded. A winter tour with a ski day in Queenstown or Wanaka needs separate arrangements.
On at least one wording we place, driving your own vehicle in a foreign country is excluded, and registered vehicles sit outside public liability. Self-drive or campervan legs need motor cover sorted separately.
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.
Sold by you, or booked by the guest. If a guest spends a free afternoon booking a bungee jump directly with the provider, that's a contract between the guest and that provider. If you sell the jump, schedule it into the itinerary or take a commission, it starts to look like part of your tour. At least one endorsement we place excludes injury arising from bungee, heli-hiking, rafting, parachuting and the other listed activities, so get the underwriter's view before you sell any of them.
Claims can follow the seller home. In a 2021 decision, a US federal court allowed a traveller who said she fractured a vertebra on a New Zealand beach bus day trip to pursue negligence and misrepresentation claims against the booking platform she bought the tour through. The 2021 ruling made no findings on the facts. The case turned on US law and a US platform, but it shows a claim can be brought against a business in the booking chain, in the traveller's home country. At least one wording we place excludes claims brought in a US court or under US law, so tell the underwriter if you sell to American guests.
Check the register. New Zealand regulates paid adventure activities, meaning guided activities designed to deliberately expose participants to a serious risk that the provider must manage. Under the Health and Safety at Work (Adventure Activities) Regulations 2016, an operator must pass a safety audit and be registered with WorkSafe New Zealand before offering them, and a safety audit certificate lasts no more than three years. Amended regulations took effect on 1 April 2024, after the reviews that followed the Whakaari eruption. WorkSafe keeps a public register, so check any New Zealand activity provider on it before you point guests to them. That check is about choosing suppliers. It doesn't bring an excluded activity inside your policy.
Evidence of your checks. Keep each New Zealand contractor's certificate of insurance on file, renewed yearly, with a note of how you chose them. Brief guests before every activity on what's included in the tour, what they're booking themselves and what their travel insurance needs to cover. Written terms that match what happens on the ground are worth more than a long waiver. See our guides to contract guides, coach companies and suppliers, what's covered and what's excluded and waivers and booking terms.
| Who asks | What they ask for | What to know |
|---|---|---|
| Viator | Valid public liability insurance as a mandatory baseline under its August 2026 supplier agreement, at a minimum Viator sets by activity risk and destination. | Keep the documents you upload current, because expired or insufficient documents freeze new sales. |
| GetYourGuide | Cover that extends to your indemnity to the platform, written on an occurrence basis and kept for two years after the last booking. No dollar figure is stated. | The indemnity, the primary and non-contributory wording and the waiver of recovery rights each need the underwriter's answer before you agree to the terms. |
| Queensland and NSW state schools (school trips) | Neither department's excursion procedure sets a dollar public liability minimum for providers. They rely on risk assessment and working with children checks, and Queensland requires bus charter operators to show a current operator accreditation number. | An individual school may still set its own figure. Read the school's request, not just the department's procedure. |
On 9 December 2019 Whakaari erupted while 47 people were on the island. Twenty-two people died and 25 were injured. At sentencing in the Auckland District Court on 1 March 2024 ([2024] NZDC 4119), the company that ran the guided walking tours was fined NZ$517,000 and ordered to pay NZ$5 million in reparation. This page reports only that company's sentence.
The insurance lesson. A guided walk is the kind of activity the tour operator policies we arrange are written for, but the sentencing shows that a natural hazard on a guided visit can sit within the safety duties of the business running it. How a reparation order would be treated is a question for the underwriter. New Zealand's adventure activity regulations were amended from 1 April 2024, so check a local provider's registration and its hazard assessment before you sell the stop.
Source: District Court of New Zealand: sentencing notes, 1 March 2024, [2024] NZDC 4119
A traveller booked a three-day New Zealand tour through an online booking platform. She alleged that on a Ninety Mile Beach bus day trip in October 2017 the bus's seatbelts had been removed and the driver hit a large ditch at speed, and that she fractured a vertebra. In Putt v TripAdvisor (E.D. Pennsylvania, No. 20-3836), the court on 25 January 2021 refused to dismiss her negligence and misrepresentation claims, so they could proceed. The 2021 ruling made no findings on the facts, and this page does not report the later outcome.
The insurance lesson. The claim was brought in the traveller's home country against the booking platform she bought the tour through. At least one wording we place excludes claims brought in a US court or under US law, so tell the underwriter if you sell to American guests. An injury caused by a registered vehicle is also outside public liability. The control is supplier checking: look at the vehicles a day-trip contractor uses, and keep its certificate.
Source: US District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania: Putt v TripAdvisor, No. 20-3836, memorandum of 25 January 2021
On 28 November 2014 a van carrying two teachers and seven Year 10 students from a Queensland school collided with a milk tanker near Reporoa, the ABC reported. The group was returning from the Tongariro Crossing on a seven-day hiking trip. The teacher who was driving and a 16-year-old student died. The investigation was continuing when the report was published, and it recorded no finding on the cause.
The insurance lesson. Whenever a group leader drives a vehicle overseas, the driving sits outside the tour operator policies we arrange: registered vehicles are generally outside public liability, and at least one endorsement we place also excludes your own vehicle in a foreign country. Settle before departure who is permitted to drive, what the hire company's motor cover includes, and whether to engage a local driver instead.
Source: ABC News, 29 November 2014: New Zealand school trip crash
Before you recommend or schedule any New Zealand activity provider, look it up on WorkSafe New Zealand's public register of adventure activity operators and keep a dated screenshot. Registration follows a safety audit, and audit certificates last no more than three years.
State in the itinerary and booking terms which activities are part of your tour and which guests book and pay for themselves, directly with the provider. Don't schedule, sell or take commission on an activity the endorsement excludes without the underwriter's view first.
Decide before departure who is permitted to drive. On at least one wording we place, your own vehicle in a foreign country is excluded, so leader-driven vans and campervans need motor cover arranged with the hire company, and a contracted local driver is the simpler answer.
Brief guests before each geothermal park, glacier valley or alpine stop: stay on marked paths, stay behind barriers, and tell the guide if you're struggling. Put a guide at the back as well as the front, and count heads at each stop.
Record each guest's travel insurer and policy number before departure, and hold each New Zealand contractor's certificate showing at least USD 1 million liability or the local equivalent, collected at the start and every year. Both are conditions on at least one wording we place.
Safe Work Australia's model first aid code says that where travel time, poor roads or weather make access difficult, arrangements should include aerial evacuation, and that where timely access to emergency services can't be assured, more advanced first aid training should be considered. For fiord, alpine and back-country days, that points to a current first aid qualification from a registered training organisation, and remote first aid training where you operate away from help, with a communication device that works out of mobile range.
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 new zealand 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
