TOUR OPERATOR INSURANCE
Selling a tour in Australia and delivering it in Europe, Asia, Japan or New Zealand. Here is where the cover follows you, the three conditions that come with it, and what stays with your guests' travel insurance.
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
Does tour operator insurance cover tours overseas?
The tour operator policies we arrange can. On one specialist tour operator wording we place, the territory is worldwide, with jurisdiction excluding the USA. An injury or loss can happen anywhere in the world, but a claim brought in a US court or under US law is not covered. Overseas tours on that wording come with three conditions. You take reasonable steps to make sure every guest holds comprehensive travel insurance. Your overseas contractors hold their own liability cover at set minimums. And no part of the tour runs in a destination the Australian Government has classified Do Not Travel. War, terrorism, cancellation and supplier insolvency are excluded on that wording. Wordings differ between insurers, and cover is always subject to the underwriter's assessment.
Australian consumer law can follow a tour sold here, so a guest injured on a tour delivered overseas may be able to claim against you at home. General information only. It doesn't take into account your objectives, financial situation or needs, and it isn't legal advice.
Territory is where the injury, damage or error happens. On one specialist tour operator wording we place it is worldwide, so a fall in Kyoto or a booking error on a Tuscan itinerary is inside it.
Jurisdiction is where the claim is brought and whose law decides it. The schedule we hold excludes claims brought in the USA or decided under US law. A guest injured in Italy who sues you in Australia is within jurisdiction. The same guest suing in a US court is not.
A USA jurisdiction extension exists on that wording as an option. It is sub-limited and is not on the schedule we hold. If you take American guests or run US tours, raise it before you bind. Our placed case ran programs in Australia and Asia on this basis. That is one past placement. Your price and terms depend on your risk.
For tours outside Australia, you must take reasonable steps to make sure every participant holds their own comprehensive travel insurance. One way to show it: make it a booking condition and record each guest's insurer and policy number before departure.
Ground handlers, coach companies and local guides need their own general liability cover: at least EUR 5 million in Europe, USD 2 million in the USA, CAD 2 million in Canada and USD 1 million or the local equivalent elsewhere. Collect a certificate at the start and each year. See contractors and guides.
There is no cover for injury or damage on a tour run wholly or partly in a destination the Australian Government classified Do Not Travel before the tour started. If a destination is reclassified during a tour, you must make every effort to bring your customers home.
| Smartraveller level | Name | Effect on one wording we place |
|---|---|---|
| Level 1 | Exercise normal safety precautions | Not caught by the exclusion. |
| Level 2 | Exercise a high degree of caution | Not caught by the exclusion. |
| Level 3 | Reconsider your need to travel | Not caught by the exclusion. Smartraveller warns that travel insurance may not cover level 3 locations, which matters for the first condition. |
| Level 4 | Do not travel | Excluded if the level applied before the tour started. If it changes mid-tour, repatriate. |
| Situation | Your tour operator policy | Guest's travel insurance |
|---|---|---|
| A guest is injured through your negligence | Public liability can respond wherever in the world it happens, subject to the wording, the schedule and the underwriter's assessment, and to its exclusions, such as registered vehicles, excluded activities and Do Not Travel destinations. Not if the claim is brought in the USA or under US law. | Medical costs, subject to its terms. |
| A guest falls ill or is hurt with nobody at fault | Not a liability claim. At least one wording we place can pay for immediate emergency medical assistance where you may be liable, and no more. | Medical and hospital costs, subject to its terms. |
| Medical evacuation or repatriation | Not covered as a benefit. These costs only come into a claim if you are legally liable for the injury. | The cover built for it, subject to its terms. Smartraveller says the Australian Government will not pay these costs in a Do Not Travel destination. |
| The tour or an activity is cancelled | Excluded. No cover for sums arising from cancellation. | Cancellation cover, subject to its terms. |
| War, terrorism or civil unrest at the destination | Excluded under both the liability and professional indemnity sections. | Depends on the guest's policy. |
| A communicable disease outbreak | Excluded under both sections. | Depends on the guest's policy. |
| A guest's passport is lost while your tour leader holds it | Not covered by the professional indemnity loss of documents extension. | Lost document cover, subject to its terms. |
Smartraveller's advice at level 1 is to get travel insurance because medical care overseas can be costly. At level 4 it warns that most standard policies will not cover the destination. The full list of what tour operator policies leave out is in cover and exclusions.
Vehicles. Driving your own vehicle in a foreign country is on the excluded activity list of at least one wording we place. Registered vehicles used by you or on your behalf, including hired vehicles and chartered coaches, are excluded from public liability in any country, with only narrow carve-backs in the wording. No Australian CTP scheme covers an overseas supplier's coach. Use an insured local carrier and hold its certificate.
Insight Vacations Pty Ltd v Young [2011] HCA 16. A European coach tour was bought in NSW. On the coach from Prague to Budapest the passenger stood to reach a bag overhead, the coach braked suddenly and she fell. She sued the Australian tour company under the statutory warranty of due care and skill, the predecessor of today's consumer guarantee. The High Court dismissed the company's appeal. Its exclusion clause, which dealt with passengers not wearing a seat belt, applied only while a passenger was seated. The NSW law that lets recreation service contracts exclude liability applied only to services supplied in NSW.
Moore v Scenic Tours Pty Ltd [2020] HCA 17. A European river cruise booked in 2012 was severely disrupted by flooding in 2013. The High Court held that the NSW cap on non-economic loss did not stop damages for disappointment and distress under the Australian Consumer Law, where that distress did not flow from a physical or psychiatric injury. The lead passenger's award was restored: $10,990 for loss of value and $2,000 for disappointment and distress, plus interest.
The first case is an injury claim, the kind public liability deals with. It happened on a moving coach, though, and the tour operator policies we arrange generally exclude registered vehicles, including chartered coaches, from public liability. How a fall on a tour's coach would be treated is a question to raise with the underwriter before you bind. The second is a claim about the service itself. On at least one specialist wording we place, professional indemnity can respond to Competition and Consumer Act claims arising from your professional services, but tour operator PI generally does not refund the tour price, and cancellation is excluded. How a disappointment claim would be treated is a question to raise with the underwriter before you bind.
| Destination | What to know |
|---|---|
| Europe | Contractor minimum EUR 5 million. Under the EU Package Travel Directive, the organiser of a package is responsible for the travel services in it, whoever performs them (article 13). That rule applies to packages sold or offered for sale in member states, through each state's own law. |
| UK and Ireland | The UK Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations 2018 make the organiser liable to the traveller for performance of the travel services (regulation 15). They apply to packages sold or offered for sale in the UK. Ask us which contractor minimum applies to UK suppliers before you rely on a certificate. |
| Asia | Contractor minimum USD 1 million or the local equivalent. Check the Smartraveller level for every country and region on the itinerary, not only the main destination. |
| Japan | Under Japan's Travel Agency Act, a business that arranges transport, accommodation or guiding for travel companies for a fee must register with the prefectural governor. Ask your land operator for its registration. Since January 2018, paid guiding no longer requires the guide interpreter qualification, though the protected titles remain reserved. |
| New Zealand | The Accident Compensation Act 2001 bars court proceedings in New Zealand for damages for personal injury covered by the scheme (section 317). The section speaks of New Zealand courts only. It does not address a claim brought in Australia, so it is not a reason to go without liability cover. |
Insolvency can be excluded. At least one specialist tour operator professional indemnity wording we place excludes claims arising from your own insolvency or that of any third party supplier: an airline, carrier, accommodation provider, ground handler, cruise operator, wholesaler or other supplier.
There is no compensation fund. The Travel Compensation Fund began winding down on 1 July 2014 and does not accept claims for issues arising after that date.
Accreditation is not a guarantee. ATIA accreditation, formerly ATAS, is a voluntary, industry-led scheme. Applicants provide evidence of public liability and professional indemnity insurance and financial accounts. ATIA itself says accreditation is not a guarantee of solvency, insurance or a compensation arrangement, and that it is not a government body.
Inbound to Queensland. The Tourism Services Act 2003 (Qld) requires inbound tour operators to register. The Queensland Government says registration is needed if at least 20% of the travel packages you sold in the last 12 months were Queensland-based tours for overseas travellers. A mandatory code of conduct applies, and operating unregistered carries a penalty of up to $34,540 for an individual, as at October 2026.
The briefing, supplier checks and incident log are among the controls the underwriter asked for on our placed case. See risk management for tour operators.
Sources
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
RELATED GUIDES
QUOTE REQUEST
Tell us the destinations, the tours you run there, group sizes, who your ground handlers are, your annual revenue, and the limits you need.
Send us your itineraries and destinations. We will take them to the specialist insurers and underwriting agencies we approach for tour operators and tell you what each one needs for your destinations.
Last updated: 03/10/2026
