Derek Moore told TTG he did not agree with some members of the trade adopting an “Airbnb - got to stop it” mentality.

His comments came after delegates at Aito’s overseas conference in Jordan were asked their thoughts on potentially partnering with the accommodation website.

When polled as to whether they believed Aito members and agents would work with Airbnb within the next two years, around two thirds of delegates, comprising Aito operators, agents and affiliates, voted yes.

“The two years was an arbitrary figure, I don’t really mind if it takes two years or five years – these things do move fast and maybe it could be two years; maybe not,” Moore said.

“The good thing is that people were talking about cooperation and for me that’s a win-win for now.”

He admitted that a reluctance of Aito members to work with Airbnb was a “natural reaction at first,” but he added: “Let’s hope that they will think about it.”

Moore insisted however that any partnership between Airbnb and Aito members would need to be based on a “level playing field”, centred on industry regulation, tax requirements and health and safety standards.

“What’s heartening is there have been comments from Airbnb that they do want to operate correctly and don’t want to be cowboys, so I think that’s a good sign,” Moore added.

In contrast, Sunvil Holidays chairman Noel Josephides said he was “surprised” by the result of the delegates’ vote, insisting a long-term partnership between operators and Airbnb would “go against the very basis of what Aito stands for”.

“I was surprised by the vote but of course it depends how you interpret it,” he explained. “It could mean those tour operators thought that at some point they would have to use Airbnb occasionally, and if so, why not? If on the other hand it meant that as a matter of course Aito operators would look to Airbnb to provide accommodation then that would create a serious problem because Airbnb accommodation is completely unregulated.

“I don’t think any tour operator worth his or her salt would heavily feature accommodation that they haven’t even seen.”

Chris Rowles, managing director of Serenity Holidays said he “could not foresee” Airbnb displacing the role of traditional tour operators and added that although he saw no partnership between Airbnb and Serenity, he could anticipate an operator’s need to use the company to provide accommodation rather than having to cancel a tour completely if no other accommodation was available.