Tour operator and travel agent liability insurance in Azerbaijan: 50,000–500,000 AZN minimums

Short answer: in Azerbaijan, tour operators and travel agents must insure their civil liability for breaching the terms of their contracts with tourists. The minimum insured amount depends on the size of the company: 50,000 AZN for a micro business, 100,000 for a small one, 200,000 for a medium one and 500,000 AZN for a large one. The insurance details must be entered in the Tourism Register within 15 days of starting work and stated in the contract with the tourist.

Last checked: 31 October 2026. This article is general information, not legal advice. Confirm the insurance terms with your insurer and a lawyer.

Legal basis

Under Art. 8.2 of the Law “On Tourism” (in Azerbaijani), tour operators and travel agents must sign a civil liability insurance contract with an insurer covering breaches of their contracts with tourists. The State Tourism Agency sets the minimum insured amounts in agreement with the Central Bank of Azerbaijan. The Agency’s Collegium approved these requirements in September 2022 (APA).

Minimum insured amounts

Company size	Average number of employees	Annual revenue	Minimum insured amount
Micro business	1–10	up to 200,000 AZN	50,000 AZN
Small business	11–50	200,000 – 3,000,000 AZN	100,000 AZN
Medium business	51–250	3,000,000 – 30,000,000 AZN	200,000 AZN
Large business	251 or more	over 30,000,000 AZN	500,000 AZN

The size criteria are set by Cabinet of Ministers Decision No. 556 of 21 December 2018 (Ministry of Economy). The insured amount must not be lower than the minimum in the table; choosing a higher amount is up to the company.

How to work out your company’s size

There is a subtlety here: the category is determined by whichever of the two indicators, headcount or annual revenue, is higher. Annual revenue includes the value of services sold in the reporting year plus non-operating income.

Example: an agency has 8 employees and annual revenue of 450,000 AZN. By headcount it is a micro business, by revenue a small one. Because the higher indicator counts, the agency is a small business and its minimum insured amount is 100,000 AZN.

Turnover grows fast in travel companies, because the full value of tickets and hotels may count as revenue. When your revenue crosses a category threshold, check your insured amount too. Confirm how annual revenue is calculated with your accountant.

What the insurance covers

The minimum amounts cover only civil liability for breaching the terms of the contract with the tourist. Under Art. 8.1 of the law, that contract must include:

• the list, description and price of the services in the tour package;
• the payment terms;
• the start and end date of the tour;
• the cancellation terms;
• the civil liability insurance;
• the terms and procedure for compensating the consumer.

If the insurance contract also covers other risks, for example risks arising from other civil-law contracts with suppliers and partner companies, the cover for those risks is not counted towards the minimum amount. In other words, those risks must be covered separately, on top of the minimum.

Liability insurance is not travel insurance

	Civil liability insurance	Tourist’s travel insurance
Who it protects	The tour operator’s or travel agent’s liability under the contract	The tourist during the trip (medical costs etc.)
When it is mandatory	For every tour operator and travel agent	When the destination requires it, and in tour packages for tourists coming to Azerbaijan
Law	Art. 8.2	Art. 17
Register	Entered in the Tourism Register within 15 days	Not entered in the Register

The Tourism Register and the contract

Once the insurance is in place, two things must be done:

1. Register: the insurance details are entered in the Tourism Register within 15 days of the date you start work, and updated within 15 days when the insurance is renewed or changes. More: the Tourism Register.
2. Contract: every contract with a tourist must state the civil liability insurance. In practice, the insurer’s name, policy number and insured amount are added to the contract template.

Questions to ask an insurer

• Does the policy meet Art. 8.2 of the law and the State Tourism Agency’s minimum requirements?
• Is the insured amount at least the minimum for your company’s category?
• Is the amount per claim, or an aggregate limit for the whole term?
• Is there a deductible, and how much is it?
• How does the payout work when a tourist makes a claim, and how long does it take?
• How long is the policy, and how is it renewed?
• Can risks arising from supplier contracts be insured separately?

Premiums are not published, so getting written quotes from several insurers is the right approach.

How a system helps

The insurance obligation itself is a one-off task, but the work it creates repeats every day: insurance details in every contract, watching the policy term, updating the Register. In a booking and back-office system, the insurance details are entered into the contract template once and used automatically in every booking, while bookings, payments and vouchers are kept in one place. This reduces errors and lets you find documents quickly if a dispute arises.

All the steps to open a travel company: how to open a travel company in Azerbaijan. To choose a system, fill in the technical specification template.

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