Becoming a licensed operator

Becoming a licensed operator

Com­mer­cial Tour Oper­a­tor fees update

In recog­ni­tion of the severe impacts expe­ri­enced by tour oper­a­tors because of COVID-19, the Depart­ment for Envi­ron­ment and Water is hold­ing off on the usu­al licence and vis­i­tor use fee increas­es that occur on 1 April each year.

This year’s fee increas­es have been deferred to 1 July 2021. This means that if you renew your licence before the end of June you will qual­i­fy to pay the 2020 licence fee. Sim­i­lar­ly, for tours tak­en between 1 April and 30 June 2021, the 2020 vis­i­tor use fees for park entry and camp­ing will apply.

Note that vis­i­tor use fees from 1 April 2020 to 31 Decem­ber 2020 and CTO licence fees from 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2021 were waived.

For a com­plete list­ing of licence and vis­i­tor use fees click here.

To become licensed, oper­a­tors need to:

  • com­plete an Appli­ca­tion form – using the appli­ca­tion form (refer to the infor­ma­tion for appli­cants for assistance)
  • Tour Oper­a­tors are required to have a trading/​credit account with DEW. If you do not have an account, please com­plete the trading/​credit appli­ca­tion form and sub­mit it togeth­er with your licence application
  • attach copies of pub­lic lia­bil­i­ty insur­ance (Cer­tifi­cate of Cur­ren­cy) of at least $10 mil­lion includ­ing evi­dence of currency
  • sup­ply a copy of the oper­a­tor’s cur­rent pro­mo­tion­al materials
  • return the doc­u­ments to DEW Parks Licens­ing and Events for processing.
  • Pro­vide the rel­e­vant tourism accred­i­ta­tion cer­tifi­cate if apply­ing for a 3 or 5 year licence:
    • Eli­gi­bil­i­ty for a three year licence is sub­ject to busi­ness­es hav­ing cur­rent cer­ti­fi­ca­tion under at least one of the following:
      • Aus­tralian Tourism Accred­i­ta­tion Program
      • Eco Cer­ti­fi­ca­tion Pro­gram — Nature Based
      • Earth Check ECO or Earth Check Evaluate
    • Eli­gi­bil­i­ty for a five year licence is sub­ject to busi­ness­es hav­ing cur­rent cer­ti­fi­ca­tion under at least one of the following:
      • Eco Cer­ti­fi­ca­tion Pro­gram — Ecotourism
      • Eco Cer­ti­fi­ca­tion Pro­gram — Advanced Ecotourism
      • Earth Check ECO Cer­ti­fied or Earth­Check Certified

Oper­a­tors based in South Aus­tralia must also meet the con­di­tions of the Pas­sen­ger Trans­port Act 1994 and be in pos­ses­sion of the fol­low­ing cur­rent cer­tifi­cates and be able to pro­duce them for inspec­tion upon demand:

  • Oper­a­tor Accreditation
  • Cer­tifi­cate of Inspec­tion for each vehi­cle that will be oper­at­ing in the pro­tect­ed area
  • Dri­ver Accred­i­ta­tion for each dri­ver who will be oper­at­ing in the pro­tect­ed area.

If pas­sen­gers are being picked up in South Aus­tralia, South Aus­tralian Depart­ment of Infra­struc­ture and Trans­port accred­i­ta­tion is required. For infor­ma­tion on pub­lic trans­port accred­i­ta­tion, please con­tact the Depart­ment of Infra­struc­ture and Trans­port on 1300872677 (with­in Australia).

Oper­a­tors based out­side South Aus­tralia must meet the con­di­tions of the rel­e­vant pas­sen­ger trans­port leg­is­la­tion in their state or ter­ri­to­ry of reg­is­tered business.

Relat­ed links