Stone joins the brand with 13 years’ experience in the sector, having worked as a tour leader for Tucan, run the customer service team at Exodus before becoming general manager of the company’s internal DMC, as well as heading up the product team at Flash Pack.

The new head of product role has been created to facilitate Explore’s ambitious global growth plans and to increase the company’s focus on product innovation.

Stone said: "I have long admired the values and integrity of Explore, a values-driven brand with an outstanding reputation, and am really looking forward to helping the business return to being the number one small group adventure tour operator."

Meanwhile, Steward has spent ten years in the adventure travel industry, six of which in a senior digital role with the Intrepid Group before joining Explore to head up the digital marketing team around three and a half years ago.

As the newly-promoted head of digital transformation, Steward’s priorities will include overseeing a number of digital projects as the business continues to focus on customer-centric booking and self-service solutions.

"I’m delighted to take on this brand new role at Explore, which really reflects the company’s dedication to digital," he said.

"The business is strategically supporting digital transformation at the very highest level in order to provide our customers with the best possible service, whether they want to interact fully online or get the best customer service when calling the call centre."