TOUR OPERATOR INSURANCE
Cradle Mountain in the morning, a cellar door in the Tamar Valley by afternoon, and weather that can turn in an hour. Here is how cover works for tours around Tasmania.
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 Tasmanian tour operator need?
A Tasmanian tour operator generally needs $20 million public liability, with a certificate that meets the Parks and Wildlife Service's licence conditions, plus professional indemnity. The PWS asks for evidence of $20 million public liability before it issues a nature based tourism business licence, as at October 2026. The other questions are Tasmania's own: how you plan for alpine weather that changes within hours, whether your walks are day walks or pack-carrying trips (backpacking trips are excluded on at least one endorsement we place), which boats and ferries the itinerary uses, and who pours at the cellar doors and distilleries on your produce trail. Injury caused by your vehicles is generally excluded from public liability on the tour operator policies we arrange, Tasmania's motor accident scheme pays benefits under its own rules, and vehicle damage needs motor cover.
A tour that crosses from the mainland by ferry is still a tour inside Australia, so the overseas travel insurance condition on at least one wording we place doesn't apply. General information only. It doesn't take into account your objectives, financial situation or needs, and it isn't legal advice.
A clear morning on a high plateau turns to sleet by lunch, and a guest in light clothing gets dangerously cold. The questions become what gear list you sent, whether the guide checked it, and when the group turned back.
You add an overnight hut walk where guests carry their own packs. At least one endorsement we place excludes backpacking trips, so a walk you think of as a guided hike can fall outside the cover. Tell the underwriter exactly how your multi-day walks run.
Wet timber steps down to a beach, a lookout above a bay, a track with roots and loose rock. If your guide took the group down in poor conditions or didn't warn a slower guest, it's a public liability matter.
A guest is thrown against a rail on a rough crossing, or falls boarding a cruise boat at a small jetty. 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 cruise or crossing qualifies is an open question for the underwriter.
Whisky, wine and cider stops on the same day, and a guest who has had too much falls on the steps at the next cellar door. What your guide saw and did matters. Whether the venue poured under its own licence or you supplied the drinks changes the underwriting.
A fire ban or a track closure cancels the headline walk. Cancellation is excluded, so what guests get back depends on your terms. If the closure was published and you didn't check before setting off, the extra costs can become a PI question.
| Situation | Cover that may respond | What to know |
|---|---|---|
| Guest injured on a guided walk in a national park or reserve | Public liability can respond | Your certificate needs to meet the PWS licence conditions. $20 million is the figure PWS asks for, as at October 2026. See permit insurance requirements. |
| Guest hurt on an overnight pack-carrying walk | Excluded on at least one wording we place | Backpacking trips are on its exclusion list. Day walks and lodge-based walks are a separate conversation with the underwriter. |
| Guest injured on a ferry, river cruise or island boat trip | The boat operator's 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 cruise qualifies is an open question for the underwriter. |
| Guest falls after tastings on a produce trail | Public liability can respond, subject to the wording | Tell the underwriter who pours: the venue under its own licence, or your tour. See wine tour insurance. |
| Guest injured in your minibus on a mountain road | CTP and commercial motor | Public liability doesn't respond to injury caused by a registered vehicle. Tasmania's Motor Accidents Insurance Board scheme pays medical and income benefits on a no-fault basis, under its own rules. See vehicles and passenger liability. |
| Walk cancelled for weather, fire or a closed track | Not insured | Cancellation is excluded. Refunds follow your booking terms and the Australian Consumer Law. |
| A heritage railway, cruise or attraction you packaged doesn't run on the day | Not insured | Cancellation is excluded, and nobody is hurt, so there is no liability claim. What you owe guests comes from your booking terms and the Australian Consumer Law. |
Backpacking trips are excluded on at least one endorsement we place. A pack-carrying hut-to-hut walk needs to be discussed with the underwriter, and may need a different market.
On at least one wording we place, rock climbing, abseiling, caving and canyoning are excluded. A guided climb on a sea cliff or a cave trip off the show-cave route needs a different market.
On at least one wording we place, helicopter activities and aircraft used by or for you are excluded, including scenic flights over the southwest wilderness and drones.
On at least one wording we place, skiing and snowboarding are excluded, and so is Class 3 to 5 white water. A multi-day rafting trip on a wild river needs a different market.
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.
Park licences. Commercial tours in Tasmania's national parks and reserves run under a Parks and Wildlife Service nature based tourism business licence. Before a contract issues, PWS asks for evidence of $20 million public liability (limits up to $20 million are available), along with your other certificates such as first aid. The standard contract runs five years, and you must gain accreditation with the Tourism Industry Council of Tasmania or an equivalent industry body within 12 months of starting. The PWS page doesn't prescribe interested party wording, so ask PWS whether it wants its interest noted. Tours in Wellington Park need a Commercial Operator's Licence from the Wellington Park Management Trust, which also asks for $20 million and uses the PWS application form. More in our guide to national park and council permit insurance requirements.
The walk-or-backpack line. At least one tour operator endorsement we place excludes backpacking trips. That exclusion list doesn't define them, so the underwriter will want to know exactly how your walks run: day walks returning to a vehicle, walks between lodges with luggage transferred, or overnight walks where guests carry packs and sleep in huts or tents. Describe the walks accurately on the proposal, because the business description on the schedule has to match what you actually do.
Weather planning. Conditions in Tasmania's high country can change quickly, even in summer. A written gear list, a check before departure, a turn-back rule and communication gear for areas without mobile coverage are what underwriters want to see. They're also your evidence of care if a guest is hurt and the question becomes whether the risk was foreseeable and what you did about it. Our risk management guide has the standards to build them from.
Tastings and Tasmanian liquor law. Tasmania has no liquor exemption for tours or vehicles. Under the Liquor Licensing Act 1990, liquor can only be sold under a licence, a permit or a general liquor exemption, selling includes supplying in expectation of payment, and premises include a means of transport. So plan on needing a permit or licence of your own for drinks you supply as part of a paid tour, and confirm it with the Commissioner for Licensing, while tastings poured by a cellar door or distillery sit under that venue's licence. On liability, Tasmania's Civil Liability Act presumes contributory negligence where an injured person was intoxicated, and in C.A.L. No 14 Pty Ltd v Motor Accidents Insurance Board [2009] HCA 47, a Tasmanian hotel case, the High Court held the licensee owed no relevant duty of care to a patron who rode off intoxicated. Neither answers a claim by someone else the guest injures, or a claim based on your own negligence. See food and alcohol on tours.
| Who asks | What they ask for | What to know |
|---|---|---|
| Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service (nature based tourism business licence) | Evidence of $20 million public liability before the contract issues, plus your other certificates, such as first aid. | Standard five-year contract. Accreditation with the Tourism Industry Council of Tasmania or an equivalent industry body is required within 12 months of the licence starting. |
| Wellington Park Management Trust (Commercial Operator's Licence) | $20 million public liability. | Needed by tour operators, walking guides and photographers with groups in Wellington Park. It uses the PWS application form, and one licence can cover PWS reserves and Wellington Park. Guide ratios and group size limits apply. |
| City of Hobart (permit to occupy a public street) | A certificate of currency for at least $10 million. | Commercial activity in the City's parks and reserves needs approval under a separate policy, which states no insurance figure. That policy doesn't cover Wellington Park. |
| 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, documented emergency procedures, an incident reporting process and at least one staff member trained in first aid during operations. |
On 28 February 2023 the front wheels of a diesel locomotive derailed between Dubbil Barril and Strahan with 90 passengers on board, the ABC reported. The train was travelling at no more than 10 to 15 kilometres an hour and nobody was injured. Passengers waited about eight hours in the rainforest before they were brought out by another train and buses. The rail safety regulator investigated and Strahan services were suspended.
The insurance lesson. Nobody was hurt, so this was never a liability claim. It was a long stranding and suspended services. If you package a railway, cruise or attraction into your tour and it fails on the day, cancellation is generally excluded on the tour operator policies we arrange, and PI doesn't refund the tour price. What you owe your guests comes from your booking terms and the Australian Consumer Law, so write the terms with a failed leg in mind and carry water, food and warm layers for a long wait.
Source: ABC News, 6 March 2023: investigation after West Coast Wilderness Railway derailment
A Tasmanian hotel licensee had agreed to hold a patron's motorcycle keys and ring his wife. The patron later refused the call, demanded the keys, rode off intoxicated and died. In C.A.L. No 14 Pty Ltd v Motor Accidents Insurance Board [2009] HCA 47 the High Court held that no relevant duty of care was owed and that this was not an exceptional case. It did not involve a tour. It is here because it is a High Court decision from Tasmania on a liquor supplier's responsibility for an adult's own drinking.
The insurance lesson. The decision helps a business against a claim by the drinker over their own drinking. It doesn't answer a claim by another person the drinker injures, a breach of responsible service rules, or a guest injured through your own negligence, such as a fall on an unlit path your guide chose. Public liability on the tour operator policies we arrange can respond to your legal liability, subject to the wording, the schedule and the underwriter's assessment, and how it treats a fall getting on or off a vehicle is a question for the underwriter. Tell the underwriter who pours on your tours and how guides manage a guest who has had too much.
Source: High Court of Australia: C.A.L. No 14 Pty Ltd v Motor Accidents Insurance Board [2009] HCA 47
Send a written gear list with the booking, check each guest's clothing and footwear before the walk starts, and set the conditions in which the guide turns the group around. Name who makes the call. Carry spare warm layers for the guest who arrives without them.
Carry a device that works where phones don't. The Australian Maritime Safety Authority recommends a GPS-equipped distress beacon and says to register it before you take it out. At least one published Australian tourism wording requires the guide to carry working communication equipment and a stocked first aid kit on every tour.
Safe Work Australia's model first aid code says that where access is difficult because of travel time, poor roads or weather, 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 alpine and wilderness walks, that points to a current first aid qualification from a registered training organisation, and remote first aid training where you operate away from help. PWS also asks for your first aid certificates before a licence contract issues.
Decide stop by stop whether the venue pours under its own liquor licence or your tour supplies the drinks. If it's you, sort the Tasmanian permit or licence first. An approved responsible service of alcohol course is required to serve liquor on premises that hold a liquor licence in Tasmania, and guides who can recognise and manage intoxication are worth describing to the underwriter.
For every ferry, river cruise and island transfer, record the vessel's length and who owns and runs it, and hold the operator's certificate of currency. Boats over 8 metres used by or for you raise an exclusion on at least one wording we place, so list each one on the proposal.
Write up every injury, illness and near miss the day it happens. Under the model work health and safety laws, a business must notify the regulator immediately after it becomes aware of a death, serious injury or dangerous incident arising out of its work, and that can include incidents involving guests. Check the detail with WorkSafe Tasmania, and report anything that could become a claim to the insurer as soon as you can.
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 tasmania 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
