Uneven ground in the grove
Irrigation lines, fallen fruit, rabbit holes and slopes between rows. A guest who rolls an ankle on a grove walk your guide chose has a public liability claim against your tour, even on the producer's land.
TOUR OPERATOR INSURANCE
Olive Oil Tour Insurance
Rows of trees on uneven ground, a mill that runs loud and fast in harvest season, and a tasting at the end. The underwriter wants to know when you visit, what guests do and how close they get to the press.
$20MPublic liability limit available
PI + PLProfessional indemnity and public liability, together or on separate policies
HarvestWhen the mill runs, the risk changes
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 olive oil tour business need in Australia?
An olive oil tour operator generally needs public liability for guests hurt at groves and mills and damage to a producer's property, professional indemnity for booking errors, and separate motor cover for any vehicle it owns. Producers, councils and booking platforms can ask for a certificate of currency before they host your groups. What sets this tour apart is the season. In harvest, the mill runs crushers, malaxers and centrifuges, floors get slick with oil, and guests may be invited to pick, rake or hold nets under the trees. The underwriter will ask when you visit, whether guests help with the harvest, and how you run any tours in Europe.
The grove's own insurance is for its trees, machinery and oil. Yours is for your tour, the route your guide chooses and anything you supply yourself. 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, plus motor for your own vehicles
- PL limit available
- Up to $20 million
- Season question
- Do you visit during harvest?
- Watch for
- Guests picking, ladders, self-drive overseas
Slippery mill floors
Oil and olive paste make mill floors slick during pressing. A fall on the production floor during a harvest tour points at the producer's premises and at your guide's decision to take the group there.
Guests helping with the harvest
A pick-your-own session with rakes, nets and ladders under the trees. A fall from a ladder or a rake to the eye is a participant injury. Whether hands-on harvest work can be insured at all is a question for the underwriter, so raise it before you offer it.
Moving machinery between rows
Tree shakers, tractors and harvest trailers work the rows in season. If your group walks into an active harvest area, the machinery is the farm's risk, but where your guide took the group is yours.
A reaction at the tasting
Olive oil tastings come with bread, dukkah or tapenade. A guest with a sesame, nut or gluten allergy reacts. If the producer served it, a claim is likely to point at its products liability. If you put the tasting plate together, it's yours.
Driving between estates in Europe
On an olive oil tour through Puglia or Andalusia, you drive a hired van between estates. That can be caught by an exclusion, on at least one wording we place, for driving your own vehicle in a foreign country, and vehicle injury sits outside public liability anyway.
| Situation | Cover that may respond | What to know |
|---|---|---|
| Guest trips in a grove on your walk | Public liability can respond | Can respond to your legal liability for the route and briefing, subject to the wording. The state of the land is a matter for the producer and its insurer. |
| Guest slips on a mill floor during pressing | Public liability can respond (yours and the producer's) | Tell the underwriter if tours visit during harvest, when the mill is running. |
| Guest hurt picking olives or on a ladder | Check with the underwriter | Hands-on harvest work is a different risk from a tasting, and at least one specialist tour operator wording we place excludes working holidays on ranches or lodges. Whether it can be insured at all is a question to raise with the underwriter before you offer it. |
| Guest reacts to food on a tasting plate you prepared | Products liability can respond | Food you supply is treated as a product. An allergic reaction isn't a disease, but how a claim is treated still depends on the wording, so raise it with the underwriter. Keep the allergen information for the bread, dukkah and tapenade you serve: see food and alcohol on tours. |
| Crash in your vehicle between regional estates | CTP scheme, which may respond, and commercial motor | 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. |
| European supplier goes broke before the tour | Not insured | Tour operator PI policies we arrange generally exclude supplier insolvency, and cancellation is excluded. |
For tours outside Australia, at least one specialist tour operator wording we place sets a different minimum for your local suppliers' own liability cover: at least EUR 5 million in Europe, against $10 million in Australia. Our guide to insurance for overseas tours covers travel insurance, Do Not Travel destinations and local suppliers.
- Which groves and mills, and in which regions or countries?
- Do tours visit during harvest and pressing, and do guests enter the mill while it runs?
- Do guests pick, rake, use ladders or handle any harvest equipment?
- Who serves the tasting, and do you prepare any food yourself, such as bread, dukkah or tasting plates?
- How you collect allergies such as sesame, nuts and gluten, and pass them to producers
- Who drives: your vehicle, a charter, or a local transport supplier overseas?
- For overseas tours, how you make sure guests hold comprehensive travel insurance
- Group sizes, annual revenue, years operating and any claims or incidents
Self-drive in a foreign country
Driving your own vehicle in a foreign country is excluded on at least one specialist tour operator wording we place. For Italian, Spanish or Greek olive oil tours, use local transport suppliers with their own motor cover.
Harvest machinery and farm vehicles
Tractors, shakers and quad bikes are the producer's risk. Motorcycles and ATVs are on the excluded activities list of at least one wording we place, and registered vehicles sit outside public liability.
Working harvest holidays
Working holidays on ranches or lodges are on the excluded activities list of at least one wording we place. A multi-day stay where guests work the harvest is closer to that than to a tour, so describe it accurately and talk to us first.
Supplier failure overseas
If an estate, hotel or ground handler goes broke, the PI section excludes supplier insolvency. Your terms and your guests' travel insurance 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.
Out of season. A grove walk and a tasting room visit keep guests on paths and at a bench. The risks are uneven ground, weather and the tasting itself, and your briefing and route choice do most of the work.
In harvest. Shakers, tractors and trailers work the rows, and the mill runs crushers, malaxers and centrifuges. Floors get slick with oil and paste. If your tours run during harvest, agree with each producer where guests can go, keep the group behind barriers in the mill, and require closed shoes. Tell the underwriter your season, because it changes what they are pricing.
Guests who help. Pick-your-own and harvest experiences put guests to work with rakes, nets and ladders. That's participant activity, and whether it can be insured at all is a question for the underwriter, so raise it before you offer it. At least one specialist tour operator wording we place also excludes working holidays on ranches or lodges, so a multi-day stay built around working the harvest needs that conversation before you sell it. Get each producer's certificate of currency too, because its land, trees and machinery are its own to insure.
The tasting plate. Olive oil is served with bread, dukkah and tapenade, which between them can carry wheat, sesame and tree nuts. Under the plain English allergen labelling rules in force since 25 February 2024, packaged food declares allergens in bold using set names, wheat is declared as wheat and individual tree nuts are declared separately. For unpackaged food, the declarations must be displayed with the food or provided to the purchaser on request. Ask the producer for the allergen information for everything on the plate, or keep the labels if you put the plate together yourself.
Estates overseas. For a tour through Italy, Spain or Greece, the mill and grove risks are the same but the supplier chain is longer. At least one specialist tour operator wording we place expects you to take reasonable steps so each contractor holds its own liability cover, at least EUR 5 million in Europe, with a certificate at the start and each year, and so every guest holds comprehensive travel insurance. Use local drivers with their own motor cover. See contract guides, coach companies and suppliers and our risk management guide.
| Who asks | What they ask for | What to know |
|---|---|---|
| Viator | Valid public liability insurance, a mandatory global baseline under its August 2026 Supplier Agreement. Viator sets minimums by activity risk and destination. | Say on the listing whether guests pick, rake or enter a running mill, so the listing, your proposal and your certificate describe the same tour. |
| GetYourGuide | Liability insurance of an appropriate value for the services and location. Where vehicles are used outside the US and Canada, motor liability at no less than the compulsory requirements of the country of service. | For European estates, that puts the local driver's motor cover in the frame. The terms also ask for a waiver of subrogation, which needs the underwriter's consent on at least one specialist tour operator wording we place. |
| Quality Tourism Accreditation | Current public liability of at least $10 million with a certificate of currency. | The standards also ask for a risk management statement and documented emergency procedures. Write the harvest-season rules into both. |
Agree the harvest rules with each producer
Before the season, agree in writing where guests can walk, where shakers and tractors are working, and where the group stands in the mill. Brief every guide, and brief guests before they leave the vehicle.
Closed shoes and barriers in the mill
Oil and paste make floors slick during pressing. Require closed shoes, keep the group behind the producer's barriers, and don't enter the mill floor unless the producer's staff lead the way.
Ladders and rakes only with the producer's supervision
If guests pick, keep them on the ground with rakes and nets unless the producer supplies and supervises ladders. Eye protection for raking is a small cost. Raise the activity with the underwriter before you offer it.
Allergen list for the tasting plate
Collect allergies at booking and send them to each producer. Ask for the allergen declarations for bread, dukkah and tapenade, which must be displayed or provided on request for unpackaged food.
Supplier certificates, here and overseas
Collect each producer's and driver's certificate of currency at the start and each year. At least one specialist tour operator wording we place expects reasonable steps so contractors hold at least $10 million liability in Australia and EUR 5 million in Europe.
First aid, communications and reporting
Have a first aid trained guide, a stocked kit and a working phone or other communication device in the grove. A serious injury arising from your business must be notified to the work health and safety regulator immediately in Australia. Tell us early.
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 olive oil 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
- Food Standards Australia New Zealand: allergen labelling for food businesses
- Viator: updated Supplier Agreement, August 2026
- GetYourGuide: Supplier Terms and Conditions (version 1 October 2026), section 11
- Quality Tourism Australia: Sustainable Tourism Accreditation Standards v0126
- Safe Work Australia: notifiable incidents handbook (December 2025 update)
- Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Cth) ss 35 to 38, Federal Register of Legislation
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Olive Oil Tour Insurance FAQs
Producers, councils and booking platforms can ask for a certificate of currency before they host your groups, and some ask for $20 million. It can respond to your legal liability if a guest is hurt on your tour or damages a producer's property, subject to the wording, and pays defence costs for a covered claim, on top of the limit, up to the costs cap.
Raise it with the underwriter before you offer it. A pick-your-own session with rakes, nets and ladders is a participant activity, not a tasting, and whether it can be insured is the underwriter's call. Working holidays are excluded on at least one specialist tour operator wording we place. If the underwriter agrees, agree the rules with the producer, keep guests off ladders unless the producer supervises, and brief everyone before they start.
Public liability can respond to your legal liability, subject to the wording, for example if your guide took the group somewhere unsafe while the mill was running. The state of its premises and machinery is a matter for the producer and its insurer. Tell the underwriter if you visit during pressing, and get each producer's certificate of currency.
The specialist markets we approach can quote overseas tours, subject to each insurer's assessment, and the schedule we hold is worldwide, excluding US jurisdiction. At least one wording we place requires reasonable steps to make sure each guest holds comprehensive travel insurance, and excludes driving your own vehicle in a foreign country, so use local transport suppliers with their own cover.
On at least one specialist tour operator wording we place, you need to take reasonable steps so contractors, consultants and agents hold their own liability cover: at least EUR 5 million in Europe, with a certificate of insurance at the start and each year after. Local drivers need their own motor cover, because that wording excludes driving your own vehicle in a foreign country. Every guest should also hold comprehensive travel insurance.
If the producer made and served it, a claim is likely to point at its products liability. If you prepared the tasting plate, at least one specialist tour operator wording we place treats that food as your product under products liability. An allergic reaction isn't a disease, but how a claim is treated still depends on the wording, so raise it with the underwriter. Collect allergies at booking and pass them to each producer in writing.
We don't publish a separate price for olive oil 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. For an olive oil tour, harvest activities, overseas destinations, vehicles and revenue all move the price, and your vehicle cover is priced 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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