diff --git a/tools/print_package_xml_version.py b/tools/print_package_xml_version.py
index bf50e920..c7eabf60 100755
--- a/tools/print_package_xml_version.py
+++ b/tools/print_package_xml_version.py
@@ -27,6 +27,9 @@
 if root.tag != 'package':
     raise RuntimeError('Invalid package.xml file, root tag <%s> should be <package>' % root.tag)
 
+if root.find('version') is None:
+    raise RuntimeError('Invalid package.xml file, no <version> tag found.')
+
 version_str = root.find('version').text
 
 # validate version string using regex from catkin_pkg