Tris Reid-Smith, co-founder and editor-in-chief of Gay Star News, said current advice offered by the Foreign Office (FCO) tended to be “based more on legislation than what’s happening on the ground”.

As a result, Reid-Smith said some countries were seen to be more LGBT-friendly than they are in reality, while others might have anti-LGBT laws, yet are still welcoming for same-sex travellers. LGBT travellers “have to be aware of our rights and the situations we’re putting ourselves in”, he added.

Reid-Smith called on the government to offer travellers more “nuanced” advice and updates and told delegates how LGBT media organisations could help to “provide the link” to ministers and the industry for up-to-date information using their local contacts.

He also encouraged travellers and travel companies supportive of the LGBT community to invest in grassroots activism in less welcoming destinations, insisting that tourism offered “a really powerful opportunity” to improve rights.

On recent trends affecting LGBT holidaymakers, Reid-Smith said incidents over the past year, including the Pulse gay nightclub attack in Orlando last June which saw 49 people killed, had made LGBT tourists aware that “places we assume are safe aren’t necessarily”.

He also hit out at US president Donald Trump for “eroding” a number of LGBT-focused civil rights, including the use of gender-assigned bathrooms in certain US states, which Reid-Smith said could cause problems for transgender tourists.

Ian Johnson, chief executive of Out Now Consulting, said the US was now the third most popular destination for UK LGBT travellers, slipping from first place the year before, adding: “You can see the damage [political leaders] can do [to their tourism reputation] if they don’t protect LGBT rights.”