TOUR OPERATOR INSURANCE
Pilgrimages can bring older travellers, long walking days, crowded sacred sites and suppliers on the other side of the world. Destination advice can change before you leave. Here is how pilgrimage tour cover works, and where it stops.
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 religious or pilgrimage tour operator need?
A religious or pilgrimage tour operator generally needs public liability that can respond overseas, and professional indemnity for errors in itineraries, bookings and supplier arrangements. Pilgrimages to Rome, the Holy Land, Lourdes, Fatima or the Camino de Santiago can bring older travellers, long walking days, crowded sacred sites and local suppliers you don't control. Destination risk matters: at least one specialist tour operator wording we place excludes tours to places rated Do Not Travel before departure, and war, civil unrest and terrorism are excluded under both sections. The same wording excludes backpacking trips, so a walking pilgrimage where guests carry their packs needs checking with the underwriter. Religious and pilgrimage tours are on the list of tour types the specialist markets we approach are set up to quote, subject to each insurer's assessment.
For tours outside Australia, at least one wording we place requires you to take reasonable steps so every pilgrim holds comprehensive travel insurance. Their medical and cancellation cover is theirs, not yours. General information only. It doesn't take into account your objectives, financial situation or needs, and it isn't legal advice.
Worn marble steps into a crypt, uneven cobbles on a processional route, a steep path to a hilltop shrine. If a guest falls and says the pace or route didn't suit the group you sold the tour to, the claim can come back to you in Australia, even though the steps are overseas.
A pilgrim collapses on a long stage in summer heat. The claim will ask how you described the fitness needed, how the day was planned, and whether rest points and a way to reach help were arranged.
Feast days, papal audiences and major pilgrimage dates draw large crowds. A guest separated from the group or hurt in a crowd surge raises questions about your meeting points, briefing and group size.
Smartraveller raises the advice for part of your itinerary a fortnight before the group leaves. If it reaches Do Not Travel before the tour starts, at least one wording we place won't cover injury or damage on that tour. If it changes during the tour, you need to make every effort to get the group home.
Your tour leader collects the group's passports for a hotel check-in or a border crossing, and the bag is stolen. Documents entrusted to you by guests aren't covered by the PI loss of documents extension on at least one wording we place.
The coach company or the hotel near the shrine doesn't deliver, and the group loses days of the pilgrimage. If the error is yours, PI can respond to the guests' extra costs. If the supplier goes broke, claims caused by supplier insolvency are excluded.
| Situation | Cover that may respond | What to know |
|---|---|---|
| Pilgrim injured at a shrine, church or on a walking stage overseas | Public liability | Worldwide territory, US jurisdiction excluded, on at least one wording we place. See insurance for overseas tours. |
| Tour to a destination rated Do Not Travel before it starts | Not insured | Excluded by endorsement on at least one wording we place. If the advice changes mid-tour, you must make every effort to get guests home. |
| War, civil unrest or terrorism at a destination | Not insured | Excluded under both sections. Guests' travel insurance terms decide what they can claim. |
| Itinerary, booking or visa advice error | Professional indemnity | Can respond to the guests' other losses caused by the error, not a refund of the tour price. |
| Passports held by your tour leader are lost or stolen | Not covered by the loss of documents extension | The extension excludes documents entrusted to you by third parties. |
| Local coach or hotel company goes broke | Not insured | Supplier insolvency is excluded from PI on at least one wording we place. See what's covered and what's excluded. |
Overseas suppliers' contracts can ask you to release them or to indemnify them. Send those terms to us before you sign so we can check how they sit with your insurance, and have your lawyer review them, because giving up recovery rights without the insurer's prior consent can remove cover for that claim. Our guide to coach companies, guides and overseas ground handlers lists the certificates to collect.
Backpacking trips are excluded on at least one tour operator endorsement we place. Insurers treat a Camino itinerary with booked accommodation and daily luggage transfers, and one where pilgrims carry everything, differently. Describe the format and raise it with us before you bind.
Do Not Travel destinations, war, civil unrest and terrorism are excluded, and so are tours that would breach sanctions. Build destination checks into your pre-departure process.
Mountaineering and helicopter activities are on the excluded list. A pre-dawn walk up a holy mountain is worth describing carefully so the underwriter can decide how to treat it.
Illness spreading through a group at a large religious gathering can be caught by the communicable and notifiable disease exclusions under both sections of at least one wording we place. Raise it with the underwriter.
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.
Where you're going. Some pilgrimage destinations sit in regions where travel advice can change at short notice. Smartraveller uses four advice levels: exercise normal safety precautions, exercise a high degree of caution, reconsider your need to travel, and do not travel. At least one specialist tour operator wording we place excludes injury or damage on tours operated wholly or partly in a destination rated Do Not Travel by the Australian Government before the tour starts. If the rating changes while the group is there, you must make every effort to repatriate your guests. War, civil unrest and terrorism are excluded whatever the advice level. Smartraveller also says most standard travel insurance policies won't cover level 4 destinations, so your pilgrims' own cover can fall away at the same time. Build a Smartraveller check into your pre-departure process, record it, and keep your booking terms clear about what happens if the route changes.
How far they walk. A walking pilgrimage can mean long days on roads, tracks and hills for a week or more. Describe the fitness needed honestly in your marketing so guests can judge whether the walk suits them, invite them to tell you anything they want you to know, plan rest points and a way to get a struggling walker to the next town, and brief the group on heat and water. If a guest relied on a description of the walk that turned out to be wrong, that's a complaint about your professional service as well as their injury.
What they carry. Backpacking trips are on the excluded list in at least one tour operator endorsement we place. A pilgrimage with booked accommodation and daily luggage transfers, where guests walk with a day pack, reads differently from one where they carry everything and find beds as they go. Insurers treat this differently, so we put the details of your format to the insurer quoting your tours before you bind, not after a claim.
The seller and the services it sells. In Insight Vacations Pty Ltd v Young [2011] HCA 16 the Australian seller of a European coach tour package was held liable under the statutory warranty that services are supplied with due care and skill for the service it sold, including a passenger's fall when the tour's coach braked between Prague and Budapest. That case was a sightseeing tour, not a pilgrimage, but a pilgrimage sold in Australia is also a package of services delivered overseas. Separately, at least one wording we place expects you to take reasonable steps to check that overseas contractors hold their own liability cover, at least EUR 5 million in Europe, with a certificate at the start and every year.
| Who asks | What they ask for | What to know |
|---|---|---|
| ATIA accreditation (travel industry scheme) | Evidence of adequate public liability and professional indemnity insurance, as one of its accreditation criteria. The page states no minimum amounts. | The scheme is voluntary. ATIA says accreditation is not a guarantee of solvency, insurance or a compensation arrangement. Tour operators and wholesalers now apply through ATIA, which CATO joined on 1 July 2026. |
| GetYourGuide | Liability cover of an appropriate value, on an occurrence basis, primary and non-contributory, with a waiver of subrogation, and motor liability at no less than the compulsory level in the country of service where vehicles are used. | Primary wording and a waiver of subrogation aren't automatic on the tour operator policies we arrange. Raise them with the underwriter before you accept the terms. |
| Viator | Valid public liability insurance for every supplier, with the minimum set by Viator for the activity and destination. | Expired or insufficient documents freeze new sales. Bookings already taken must still be honoured. |
A European coach tour was bought in NSW in 2005. On the coach from Prague to Budapest the passenger stood to reach a bag on the overhead shelf, the coach braked suddenly and she fell. The High Court dismissed the tour company's appeal. A contract term that excluded liability where a seat belt was fitted and not worn applied only while a passenger was seated, and a NSW civil liability provision could not be used for services supplied outside NSW.
The insurance lesson. This was a sightseeing tour, not a pilgrimage, but a pilgrimage sold in Australia is also a package of services delivered overseas, and here the seller of the package was liable for the service it sold, including a fall on the tour's coach. On the tour operator policies we arrange, injury caused by a registered vehicle used by or on behalf of you is generally excluded from public liability, so ask us to put coach-based itineraries to the underwriter before you sell them. The controls are supplier certificates, a seat belt and stay-seated briefing, and booking terms checked by a lawyer.
A European river cruise tour booked in 2012 was severely disrupted by flooding in 2013. The High Court held that damages for disappointment and distress under the Australian Consumer Law were not blocked by the NSW threshold for non-economic loss, because the distress did not flow from a physical or psychiatric injury. The lead passenger's award of $10,990 for loss of value plus $2,000 for disappointment and distress was restored.
The insurance lesson. A pilgrimage is sold as an experience that matters to the traveller, and this case shows that failing to deliver it can lead to damages for disappointment as well as lost value. Tour operator policies we arrange generally exclude cancellation, and PI doesn't refund the tour price, so don't assume a claim like this is insured. Ask the underwriter. The controls are booking terms that say what happens when a route or site changes, and telling the group early.
Check the advice level for every country and region on the route when you publish the tour, before final payment, before departure and during the tour. Keep a dated record each time. A destination rated Do Not Travel before the tour starts takes that tour outside cover on at least one wording we place.
At least one wording we place requires reasonable steps so every participant on an overseas tour holds comprehensive travel insurance. Ask for the insurer, policy number and emergency assistance number before departure, and keep them with the tour leader.
Publish daily distances, hills, steps and the pace. Invite guests to tell you about any health or mobility needs they want you to know, and make sure the leader on the ground has what they share. Offer a shorter option or a vehicle transfer for long stages.
Avoid collecting the group's passports. If a hotel or border post needs them, hand them back straight away. Documents entrusted to you by guests are not covered by the PI loss of documents extension on at least one wording we place.
Collect a certificate of insurance from each coach company, hotel and local guide at the start and every year. One specialist wording we place sets contractor minimums of EUR 5 million in Europe and USD 1 million or the local equivalent in countries outside Europe, the USA and Canada.
On feast days and at major sites, brief the group on a meeting point and a time before going in, give everyone the leader's number on a card, count heads when you regroup, and keep the group small enough for one leader to see.
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 religious and pilgrimage 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
