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.

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.

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

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.

New Operators

Step 1 – Preparation

Prepare as much detail as possible in relation to your proposed activities and locations you are seeking to visit as part of your application.

Information that you will need to complete your application:

organised tour/activity name,
proposed group size,
park name,
duration of your activity,
anticipated frequency
equipment to be used when undertaking your tour/activity and;
description of the activity.

Step 2 – Registration

New operators will need to register on ParkConnect before they can proceed to the application step. Access the registration sign up page.

Step 3 – Application

You can submit your full application or re-licence online via ParkConnect.

To apply:

Sign in to ParkConnect.
Click on Tour Operator.
Go to My applications/agreements to commence the process. New operators will need to create an Account prior to submitting an application (see Step 2).

Note: Parks Victoria is unable to finalise an incomplete application.

Step 4 – Assessment

Your application will be assessed by the Licensing Team before being sent out the relevant Area Chief Rangers for review and comment.

Step 5 – Finalisation

Once approved a licence will be sent to you for electronic signing using DocuSign and a invoice will be sent to you for the Annual Licence fee. Please ensure you carefully review all the conditions of the licence prior to signing.

Note: you will only be permitted to operate following the completion of this step.

For further assistance, please see the New Operators Application (PDF) or contact LTOlicensing@parks.vic.gov.au.

Existing Operators

Step 1 – Preparation

Prepare the following documentation;

Visitations - for activities conducted over the previous financial year.
Insurance – Certificate of Currency
Variations – for any new activities and/or locations you are seeking to access

Step 2 – Application

You can re-licence online via ParkConnect.

To apply:

Sign in to ParkConnect.
Click on Tour Operator.
Click on Manage account – ensure all your account and contact details are still correct
Click on Report visitations – to report any activities conducted over the previous financial year
Go to My applications/agreements to commence the process.
- Existing operators please click on the drop-down button to commence the re-licence process. Most of the detail will be pre-populated.
- Variations – you can add locations and activities as part of the relicensing process
- Insurance – as part of this application process please upload your current Certificate of Currency

Note: Ensure the application has been submitted, you will receive an automated email upon submission.

Step 3 – Finalisation

Once approved a licence will be sent to you for electronic signing using DocuSign and a invoice will be sent to you for the Annual Licence fee. Please ensure you carefully review the licence prior to signing.

For further assistance, please see the Existing Operators Application (PDF) or contact LTOlicensing@parks.vic.gov.au.

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.