TOUR OPERATOR INSURANCE
Guests who travel alone rely on you for more of the trip: a room partner, company at dinner, someone to call if things go wrong. Here is how cover works for solo traveller tours, 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 solo traveller tour operator need?
A solo traveller tour operator generally needs public liability for injury to guests and damage to other people's property, and professional indemnity for errors in bookings, room-share arrangements and itinerary advice. Motor cover sits separately for any vehicle you own. Solo tours change the practical questions: who a guest shares a room with, what you arrange during free time, and how quickly you can reach an emergency contact if a guest is hurt or unwell. One exclusion needs plain talk. Claims connected with sexual harassment, molestation or assault are excluded under both the liability and PI sections of at least one specialist wording we place, so prevention and a clear complaint process matter. Solo tours are a type the specialist markets we approach are set up to quote, subject to each insurer's assessment.
For tours outside Australia, at least one specialist wording we place requires reasonable steps so every guest holds comprehensive travel insurance. For a guest travelling alone, their travel policy is their main support if they're hurt or fall ill away from home. General information only. It doesn't take into account your objectives, financial situation or needs, and it isn't legal advice.
You pair two guests who each booked a shared room, and one asks to move after a disagreement. With no spare twin room, a guest pays a single supplement mid-tour and asks you to cover it. A financial loss from how you arranged the booking is a professional indemnity question.
A guest takes an afternoon on their own and slips on a harbour walkway. Your liability depends on the link to your tour. If your guide suggested the route or booked the activity, the claim sits closer to you than if the guest made their own plans.
A guest doesn't return from free time and the group is about to leave for the next town. How you run headcounts, when you call the emergency contact and how you escalate all shape whether you acted with reasonable care.
A guest tells your tour leader about unwanted attention from another traveller at a group dinner. How you listen, separate people and record what happened matters. Claims connected with sexual harassment or assault are excluded on at least one specialist wording we place, so your code of conduct and procedure are the protection.
Your guide recommends a bar and a walk back to the hotel after dark, and a guest is hurt on the way. Advice given as part of a paid tour sits close to the line between professional indemnity and public liability, so tell the underwriter what guides recommend in free time.
A guest travelling alone is admitted to hospital in Italy with no companion on the trip. Their own travel insurance may respond to medical costs and repatriation, under its own terms. Your part is raising the alarm, contacting their emergency contact and keeping the rest of the tour running.
| Situation | Cover that may respond | What to know |
|---|---|---|
| Guest injured on a guided walk or at an activity you booked | Public liability | Can respond to your legal liability, subject to the wording. The excess on the schedule we hold is $1,000; yours may differ. |
| Room-share or booking arrangement fails and a guest pays extra | Professional indemnity | Can respond to civil liability from your professional services, subject to the wording. The refund of the tour price itself is excluded. |
| Guest hurt in free time on a route your guide recommended | Possibly public liability or PI, depending on the facts and the wording | Advice on a paid tour can fall between the two covers, so tell the underwriter what guides recommend and keep a note of it. |
| Allegation of sexual harassment or assault on tour | Not insured | Excluded under both public liability and PI on at least one specialist wording we place, with no carve-back. Wordings differ between insurers. |
| A guide or staff member assaults a guest | Generally not insured | Assault by you or your staff is excluded unless it was done to protect people or property from danger. |
| Guest falls ill or is injured overseas with no fault on your part | Guest's travel insurance | At least one specialist wording we place requires reasonable steps so guests on overseas tours hold comprehensive travel insurance. |
If a guest complains or makes a claim after an incident, don't admit fault or offer compensation on the spot. Doing that without the insurer's consent can put cover at risk. Record what happened and tell us as soon as possible.
Sexual harassment, molestation and assault claims are excluded under both the liability and PI sections of at least one specialist wording we place, with no carve-back. Wordings differ between insurers, so ask us and we'll put any question about the exclusion's reach to the underwriter.
If your tour books a surf lesson, a scooter hire or a horse ride for a guest, the exclusions for surfing, e-bikes, Segways and scooters, and horse riding on at least one specialist wording we place can apply.
At least one specialist wording we place excludes tours run wholly or partly in a destination rated Do Not Travel by the Australian Government before the tour starts. Do Not Travel is level 4, the highest of Smartraveller's four advice levels. If the rating changes mid-tour, you must make every effort to get guests home.
If a tour leader holds guests' passports for check-in, a lost passport isn't covered by the PI loss of documents extension on at least one wording we place, because documents entrusted by others are excluded.
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.
Room shares. If you offer a shared room so guests can avoid a single supplement, write down how you match guests, what they're told about their room partner, and what happens if either wants to change. No guest should be paired without agreeing to the arrangement. If a share breaks down and a guest is left out of pocket, the complaint is about your booking service, which is where professional indemnity sits, subject to the refund exclusion.
Free time. Whether you owe a duty in free time depends on what you arranged and said. What you recommend, book or lead during free time stays closer to your tour than what a guest chooses alone. Give guests a written note with the meeting point, a local emergency number and the guide's phone number, and run a headcount before the group moves on.
Personal safety and complaints. A guest code of conduct, a guide code of conduct and a private way to report unwanted behaviour protect guests and your business. Sexual harassment, molestation and assault claims are excluded under both the liability and PI sections of at least one specialist wording we place, so these procedures are the main protection. If a guest raises a concern, take it seriously, keep them safe, record what happened, and contact us before you respond to any demand. Our risk management guide covers the procedures underwriters ask about.
Travel advice levels and travel insurance. Smartraveller, the Australian Government's travel advice service, uses four levels: exercise normal safety precautions (level 1), exercise a high degree of caution (level 2), reconsider your need to travel (level 3) and do not travel (level 4). At least one specialist wording we place excludes tours to a destination at level 4 before the tour starts. Smartraveller also warns travellers that a travel policy may not cover level 3 locations and that standard policies generally won't cover level 4. A guest travelling alone has nobody else's policy or help to fall back on, so check the level for every stop before each departure, keep a dated record, and ask guests to confirm their travel insurance covers the whole route. See insurance for overseas tours.
Booking platforms. Solo travellers can reach you through online marketplaces, and each has its own insurance terms. GetYourGuide's supplier terms (version dated 1 October 2026) ask for a liability policy written on an occurrence form and kept for two years after the last booking, with cover that is primary and non-contributory and a waiver of the insurer's recovery rights against GetYourGuide. Those are features to ask the underwriter about before you accept the terms, not things to assume. Viator's August 2026 supplier agreement describes public liability insurance as a mandatory baseline. See booking platform and cruise line insurance requirements.
| Who asks | What they ask for | What to know |
|---|---|---|
| GetYourGuide (supplier terms, version dated 1 October 2026) | A liability policy on an occurrence form, kept for two years after the last booking, primary and non-contributory, with a waiver of recovery rights against GetYourGuide. No dollar figure is set | Failing to hold or evidence cover is a ground for termination. Ask the underwriter about each of those features before you accept the terms. |
| Viator (supplier agreement, August 2026) | Valid public liability insurance as a mandatory baseline, with minimums set by Viator according to activity risk and destination | If your documents expire or fall short, the account is frozen from taking new sales, and existing bookings must still be honoured. |
| Airbnb Experiences | Hosts must maintain liability insurance appropriate for their business and may be asked for proof | Airbnb's own experiences liability program, for the amount Airbnb states, sits above the host's insurance. Airbnb says hosts in Japan are not covered by it. |
| Quality Tourism Accreditation (Australian Tourism Industry Council) | $10 million public liability with a certificate of currency | The standards also ask for a risk management statement, documented emergency procedures and an incident reporting process. |
On 22 October 2002, on a guided multi-day camping tour in Kakadu, the guide suggested a late-night swim in a creek and led the group there. A saltwater crocodile took a tour member. The coroner described the guide's decision as grossly negligent, and also found that the operator itself ran a competent operation with training ahead of the general industry standard. The guide pleaded guilty in the NT Supreme Court to doing a dangerous act. It's here because guests with no travel companion rely on the guide's judgment after hours.
The insurance lesson. One guide's decision on one night produced a fatal incident even though the business's systems were sound. A civil claim for a guide's negligence is a public liability matter, and the tour operator policies we arrange can respond to your liability for your guides' conduct, subject to the wording. Backpacking trips are on the excluded activity list of at least one specialist wording we place, so tell the underwriter exactly what your overnight tours involve. The control is written site rules that guides can't vary, especially for water and after dark.
Three young overseas visitors died in two rollovers on K'gari's eastern beach in April and December 2009. In each case the vehicle was hired from a mainland operator and driven by a fellow tourist the passengers had only recently met, who was driving on a beach for the first time. An inquest can't decide civil liability. The State Coroner recommended monitoring the take-up of guide-led tag-along tours, checking that safety briefings are understood, and annual safety inspections of hire vehicles. These were self-drive hire trips, not guided tours.
The insurance lesson. Where guests drive, the exposure is generally a motor and CTP matter rather than public liability, which excludes registered vehicles on the tour operator policies we arrange. If your solo itineraries put guests behind the wheel, that part needs a different market. The control: don't make guests who met yesterday responsible for each other's transport, and check that a briefing was understood, not only delivered.
Source: Queensland Courts: State Coroner's findings, K'gari (Fraser Island) 4WD deaths, 23 April 2010
Record that each guest agreed to share, what they were told about how matches are made, and what happens if either wants to move. Put the single supplement and room-change rules in your booking terms so a mid-tour change isn't a surprise.
Give each guest a card with the meeting point and time, a local emergency number and the guide's phone number. Run a headcount before the group moves, and write down when the guide calls the guest, then the hotel, then the emergency contact.
Give guests and guides a short code of conduct and a way to raise a concern privately, such as a phone number that isn't the guide's. Safe Work Australia has published amendments to the model incident notification rules that add violent incidents, including sexual assault. They apply only once a state or territory adopts them, so check with your regulator.
List what guides won't do on any tour: night swims, unfenced edges, unplanned detours after dark. The Kakadu inquest above concerned a guide's decision made after hours, on a tour run by an operator whose systems the coroner otherwise found competent.
Check Smartraveller for every destination before each departure and during the tour, and keep a dated note. At least one specialist wording we place excludes tours to a destination rated Do Not Travel before the tour starts.
For tours outside Australia, ask each guest to confirm in writing that they hold comprehensive travel insurance for the whole route, and keep the record. The guest chooses their own policy. At least one specialist wording we place requires reasonable steps, and a record is how you show you took them.
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 solo traveller 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
