Aito confirmed the news in a message to members on Monday morning (30 January). "It is with great sadness that I have to announce the passing of Aito deputy chair Derek Moore," said chair Chris Rowles and executive director Martyn Sumners.

"Derek had not been well for a while. However, [he] battled on attending as many Aito events and being fully involved with council and the strategic review. Derek, a founder member of Explore, had been heavily involved with Aito for nearly 20 years, of which he was chair for 13 of those.

"The word legend is too often used, but as far as specialist travel is concerned, Derek was most definitely a legend. We all owe him a great deal for his contribution to the travel industry."

Aito said the organisation’s thoughts were with Moore’s wife Amelia and their children.

’Pioneer in every sense’

Sunvil chair Noel Josephides, who worked closely with Moore at Aito, told TTG: "Derek was an excellent front man for Aito.

"He had a brilliant turn of phrase, an ability to grasp an issue very quickly, and enormous knowledge of the industry – and, of course, of what it takes to create and run a highly successful independent specialist company.

"He was a pioneer in every sense of the word, in the days when tour operating was fun, and not controlled by accountants."

Moore’s early days in adventure travel saw him work in, or visit, more than 120 countries. He went on to co-found adventure tour operator Explore Worldwide in the early-1980s with Travers Cox and acted as operations director for two decades.

After the business was sold in 2000 to Holidaybreak, Moore served for more than 10 years as chair of Aito, and was deputy chair when he passed.

Latterly, he founded The Derek Moore Foundation, a charity designed to fund community projects in far-flung communities around the world – ones often touched by tourism.

Sue Ockwell, founder of Travel PR, told TTG Moore was among the business’s early clients, with Travel PR going on to handle PR for Aito.

"We worked closely with Derek in handling the Yemen crisis for Explore shortly afterwards, which was a week of TV, radio and newspaper interviews – hugely intense, especially as the news broke on Boxing Day and news tends to be slack post-Christmas," Ockwell recalled to TTG.

"He was always cool, calm and very practical. You couldn’t hope for a better person in a crisis situation – his years of exploring the world, leading trips by truck to remote destinations, meant he’d seen most things in life and was good at thinking quickly how best to handle something serious.

"Explore held a press conference on the return of the hostages to the UK; there were 12 TV crews and something like 200 media. It was live on Sky News for an hour, and several of the hostages spoke movingly of their ordeal. Some had returned without their partners.

"Explore has always kept in touch with those customers involved, and I believe that several chose subsequently to travel with Explore again, which says a lot for the way that the company treated them, and for Explore’s values. That was down to Derek and to Travers Cox of Explore 40 or so years ago."

’Great character’

Lata chief executive Danny Callaghan said: "I am very saddened to hear Derek has passed away. I’ve known him for getting on for 20 years, firstly through my time at Wanderlust and more recently through his involvement with some of Lata’s activities. He always gave his time and knowledge willingly, often in return for a nice lunch. He will be sadly missed."

Kate McWilliams, managing director of PR and representation agency Lotus, which represents the Spanish Tourist Office in the UK, said the business had received a huge number of emails from Spanish clients and regions about Moore’s passing.

"Derek was a huge supporter of Spain and took many trips throughout his long and industrious career to the country," said McWilliams. "He will be very sadly missed by the whole Spanish travel community. Here at Lotus, we are also very saddened to hear this news. Derek gave his time and expertise so generously, and was a great character."

Anyone wishing to pay tribute to Derek Moore should email feedback@ttgmedia.com, or leave a comment below.