The site, which went live earlier this month, will act as a referral platform to inform and inspire would-be travellers and direct bookings to the operators featured.

However, agents will be offered the opportunity to white-label the site – where no reference will be made to the tour operators – which will guide users to visit the agent in-store or call them. No bookings can be made directly through the site, which is a repurposed version of holiday search engine Travelwhere.

Ian Champness, founder and director of Travelwhere, said the new platform followed a “surge” in popularity for the touring and adventure sector and pledged to generate “authentic leads” for travel firms to convert. He also added that the site would aim to “cut down legwork for agents… and boost the profile of more niche operators”.

“There’s a huge market for touring and experiential travel which only seems to be growing, and with the site, it’s a way of merging fantastic product with expertise,” Champness told TTG.

“The tours on the site aren’t your typical fly-and-flop and need the help and advice of agents or knowledgeable tour operators. For us, it’s all about putting the customer in contact with an expert.”

He said although the commercial details for the use of the site had not yet been formalised, he was considering a “very small set-up cost and lead share per booking” for agents. He added that the site was currently undergoing a testing phase for its first agent partner and that it had been made responsive to accommodate a rise in the number of searches done via smartphones, with an app version available to download and live chat and “favourites” functions being developed.