The operator said that it had initially made the seven UK staff – and others globally – redundant “in response to the escalating crisis” in mid-March, as their roles “would not be required in the immediate future”.

One of those affected made contact with TTG in recent weeks to express their disappointment that the operator was not “doing the right thing” by the group. 

G Adventures said in a statement: “These decisions were made prior to the introduction of the Job Retention Scheme by the UK government, which we have since been able to leverage and have placed 40% of our UK staff on furlough. 

“Since these decisions were made, there have been calls from those made redundant in the UK for us to leverage the furlough scheme, as done by other companies. 

“As a Job Retention Scheme, there was limited guidance at the time on if the furlough scheme could be utilised by individuals whose role would continue to be redundant following the crisis.”

The operator said it has today spoken with all seven individuals in the UK and advised that it is able to offer them access to the furlough scheme up to the end of June. 

“We hope that the scheme will offer some security and stability to them over the coming months,” added the statement. 

“We hold ourselves accountable to our core values and remain committed to doing the right thing.”