Terms of service

These Terms of Service (the "Terms") govern your use of the Empiria Tours website and every booking you make on it. Please read them. Our Booking Conditions, Cancellation Policy and Privacy Policy form part of these Terms.

1. Who we are

This website (the "Site") is owned and operated by Empiria World Inc., a Canadian corporation based in Ontario ("Empiria", "we", "us"). Empiria Tours is one of Empiria World Inc.'s properties, alongside Empiria Events. Our mailing address and contact email are published on the contact page and in the footer of every page, and those are the addresses for any notice under these Terms. Our travel industry registration number is published in the footer.

2. What we do, and who you are dealing with

Empiria Tours sells small-group guided tours. When you book a tour on the Site, Empiria is the seller: the contract for the tour is between you and Empiria World Inc., Empiria takes your payment, and Empiria is responsible to you for the booking. On the ground, tours are run by Empiria or by tour operators we work with ("Operators"). An Operator's involvement does not change who your contract is with.

This is different from Empiria Events, where Empiria provides ticketing tools for events run by independent organizers. The Empiria Events terms do not apply to bookings made here.

3. Accepting these Terms

By accessing the Site, creating an account or making a booking, you agree to these Terms and to the documents they reference. If you do not agree, please do not use the Site. The Terms in force when you make a booking govern that booking, even if we change the Terms afterwards.

4. Who may book

You must be at least 18 years old and able to enter into a binding contract to make a booking. The person who makes a booking (the "lead traveller") does so on behalf of everyone on it, and confirms that they have each traveller's permission to provide their details and to accept these Terms and the Booking Conditions for them. Minors may travel only as part of a booking made by an adult who is responsible for them.

5. Accounts

You do not need an account to book. If you create one, you must give accurate information and keep your sign-in details confidential; you are responsible for activity under your account. You may close your account at any time from your account page. Closing it erases your profile; your booking records are kept as described in the Privacy Policy, because Empiria is the seller on them and must keep the record of the sale. We may suspend or close an account that is used to breach these Terms, to attempt fraud, or in a way that would break the law.

6. Prices and what they include

Prices are shown per person, in the currency you select, with taxes and fees itemised before you pay. What each tour includes and excludes is listed on its page. Prices can change at any time before you book; the price shown to you when you confirm a booking is the price you pay for it. If a price changes while you are completing a booking, nothing is charged and you are shown the new total before deciding whether to continue. A promotion code applies only as its own conditions say, and one code can be used per booking.

7. Holding seats and making a booking

While you fill in a booking, the seats for your party are held for a limited time, and the time remaining is shown to you. If the hold runs out before you reserve, the seats are released; you can hold them again if they are still available. A booking exists once you confirm it on the final step. It is then held for a short payment window; if the payment due at booking is not received within that window, the booking is cancelled and the seats are released.

8. Payment

Payments are processed by Stripe on Empiria's behalf. Your card details are entered on Stripe's secure payment page and never reach our systems. Depending on the tour and how far away the departure is, you pay either the full amount at booking, or a deposit at booking and the balance by the balance due date — which is shown before you book, in your confirmation and in your account. A booking is confirmed when we receive the payment due at booking. If a balance is not paid by its due date, the Cancellation Policy says what happens. Amounts are charged in the currency of your booking; your card issuer may apply its own conversion rate or fees, which we do not control.

9. Confirmation and documents

After you book, we send a confirmation to the email address on the booking, and a receipt once payment is received. Your booking page shows your reference, the tour and departure, the travellers, what you have paid and any balance due. Please check it and tell us straight away if anything is wrong.

10. What you agree to before you reserve

Before you reserve, you are shown the wording that applies to your booking — including any conditions specific to the tour — and asked to confirm it. We record the exact wording you agreed to, with the date and time, and it stays with your booking so that both of us can see later what was agreed.

11. Changes and cancellations

Our Booking Conditions and Cancellation Policy set out how a booking can be changed or cancelled, by you or by us, and what is refunded. If we have to cancel or materially change a departure — for example because minimum numbers are not reached, or because of events outside our control — we will tell you as soon as we can, and the Cancellation Policy says what you are entitled to.

12. Travel documents, health and insurance

You are responsible for holding a valid passport, any visas and any other documents required for the countries you visit or pass through, and for meeting their entry, health and vaccination requirements. We are not responsible if you are refused travel or entry because you do not. The name of each traveller on a booking must match the identity document that person will carry.

We strongly recommend that every traveller holds travel insurance covering cancellation, medical treatment abroad, repatriation and personal belongings. Tell us before you book about any medical, dietary, mobility or accessibility needs that could affect your trip, so that we can say honestly whether the tour suits and arrange what is needed.

13. On the tour

Our tours are run in small groups. You agree to follow reasonable instructions from your guide, to respect local laws and customs and the other people in the group, and to be on time. As a last resort, a guide may decline to let someone continue on a tour whose behaviour puts the safety or enjoyment of others at risk; the Cancellation Policy applies in that case. Itineraries may need to change on the day because of weather, closures, safety or local conditions; where we can, we substitute something comparable.

14. Tour operators

Where an Operator runs a tour, it does so under an agreement with Empiria that requires it to hold the licences, permits and insurance that apply where it operates. If you are a tour operator who would like to run tours with us, you can apply on the Site. Operator accounts are created only after we approve an application, and a separate written agreement governs that relationship. Nothing in these Terms creates a partnership, joint venture, agency or employment relationship between you and Empiria.

15. Using the Site

We grant you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable right to use the Site to browse and book tours. You may not copy, modify, reverse engineer, resell or distribute the Site or any part of it; use bots, scrapers or other automated means to extract data from it; interfere with its security or performance; or use it for any unlawful purpose or to make bookings you do not intend to honour.

16. Our content, trademarks and your feedback

Everything on the Site — the text, photographs, itineraries, design and software — is the property of Empiria World Inc. or its licensors and is protected by copyright, trademark and other laws. The Empiria, Empiria Tours and Empiria Events names and logos are trademarks of Empiria World Inc., and nothing in these Terms grants a licence to use them. You may not use Site content for commercial purposes without our written consent. Anything you send us as feedback about the Site or our tours may be used by us for any purpose, without obligation to you.

17. Third-party websites and services

The Site links to services we do not control, including Stripe's payment pages, Empiria Events and Operators' own websites. We are not responsible for their content or practices, and your dealings with them are between you and them.

18. Our responsibility to you

We will provide the tour you booked with reasonable care and skill, and we are responsible for the acts and omissions of our employees and, in running your tour, of the Operators we appoint. We are not responsible for loss caused by your own acts or omissions, by a third party unconnected with the tour, or by events that neither we nor our Operators could have foreseen or avoided even with all due care. We are not liable for indirect or consequential loss. Where the law allows us to limit our liability, and except for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, our total liability to you in connection with a booking is limited to the amount you paid for it.

Nothing in these Terms limits any right you have under the Consumer Protection Act, 2002 (Ontario), the Travel Industry Act, 2002 (Ontario), or any other law that cannot be excluded by agreement.

19. Your responsibility to us

You agree to compensate Empiria for loss we suffer as a direct result of your breach of these Terms or your unlawful use of the Site.

20. Resolving disputes

If something goes wrong, tell us first, through the contact page, and we will do our best to put it right. If we cannot resolve a dispute informally within 60 days, either of us may propose arbitration in Ontario under the Arbitration Act, 1991, and if we both agree, the dispute will be settled that way, on an individual basis. Where the law gives you the right to bring a claim in court — including a claim under the Consumer Protection Act, 2002 — nothing in these Terms takes that right away.

21. Governing law

These Terms are governed by the laws of the Province of Ontario and the federal laws of Canada that apply there. Subject to section 20, the courts of Ontario have jurisdiction over any dispute arising from them.

22. Notices

Notices from us are sent to the email address on your account or booking, or shown on the Site. Notices to us go to the mailing or email address on the contact page.

23. Changes to these Terms or the Site

We may change these Terms. Material changes take effect 30 days after we notify you by email or by a prominent notice on the Site, and continuing to use the Site after that date means you accept them. Bookings already made remain governed by the Terms in force when they were made. We may change or discontinue features of the Site at any time.

24. General

These Terms, with the Booking Conditions, the Cancellation Policy and the Privacy Policy, are the entire agreement between you and Empiria about the Site and your bookings, and replace any earlier understanding. If any part is found unenforceable, it is limited to the minimum extent necessary and the rest continues in force. Our not enforcing a provision is not a waiver of it. We may assign these Terms to an affiliate or successor; you may not assign them without our written consent. Headings are for convenience only. If these Terms are translated, the English version governs.

Last updated: 14 September 2026.