Licensing

A great way to experience Victoria’s State and National Parks is with a Licensed Tour Operator (LTO). Licensed tour operators are experts in conducting organised, recreational activities and more. If you want to try something new or meet some like-minded people on your next visit to a park, contact a licensed tour operator.

If you are interested in conducting organised tours or recreational activities on Parks Victoria and Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA) managed estate, please read the below information to learn how to register for a licence.

Who is required to hold a licence?

A tour operator and activity provider licence is required for any person or business conducting an organised tour or recreational activity, including training, for profit on public land in Victoria.

If you engage a third party to deliver some or all the licensed activities, the third party must also hold a tour operator licence.

You need a licence if the tour or activity has commercial gain and is regular or repeated. If the activity is a one-off, you will likely need an event permit from the land manager. If you are still unsure, your land manager can advise whether a licence or event permit, or another permit is needed.

Commercial activity includes circumstances where a service is provided by a guide or leader and they are being paid, or where an entry or membership fee is collected beyond the costs of running the activity. This is regardless of an organisation being not-for-profit.

Parks Victoria issues and administers tour operator licensing on public land in Victoria on behalf of DEECA including on Victorian state waters and inland waterways.

The requirement to hold a licence is set out within key public land management Acts: National Parks Act 1975, Crown Land (Reserves) Act 1978, Forests Act 1958, Land Act 1958, and Wildlife Act 1975.

For more information on tour operators and activity provider licence requirements (including the relevant Policy, Legislation and Fact Sheets,) go to the DEECA website or view the LTO Toolkit (PDF).

Fees

Tour operators and activity providers are required to pay fees for:

Annual Licence Fee
Visitations (use fees)

2023-2024 fee schedule

Category	Fee for 2023-2024
Annual fee - standard one year licence	$330.40
Annual fee - standard licence multi year licence (per year)	$259.20*
Use fee - adult	$2.40
Use fee - child (16 years and under) and school student	$1.60
Use fee cap	$16,198.00

*multiply this fee by the number of years you wish to apply for.

Further fee structure information is available on the DEECA website.

Applications

Anyone planning on conducting organised tours or recreational activity for profit will need to apply for a licence before commencing any commercial activities on public land.

Applications for a Tour Operator Licence are completed in ParkConnect. For assistance in completing the application, please see the LTO Toolkit (PDF), New Operators Application (PDF) or Existing Operators Application (PDF).

For further assistance please contact LTOlicensing@parks.vic.gov.au or 13 1963.

Useful links

Incidents

Accidents can happen while operating and it is a requirement of the licensee to submit an Incident response form by email to LTOlicensing@parks.vic.gov.au as an acknowledgment of the incident.