The auditing tool, called Travel Trade Ready, assesses a product’s readiness through an 11-question survey.

It starts by asking what kind of company a supplier would like to engage with - for example a tour operator, DMC or OTA - and goes on to cover dynamic pricing, commissions, lead times and vouchers.

Travel Trade Ready aims to stop travel agents wasting their time engaging with suppliers which don’t understand trade requirements.

The free platform also offers a jargon buster, marketing materials, business support and videos from tour operators.

 
“It can be incredibly frustrating for buyers when they meet with a company that doesn’t understand what it means to be travel trade ready," said Mike Newman, Travel Trade Ready’s developer.

"We want to help them save time, money and resources through our platform which provides a one-stop-shop of exciting, fun and dynamic products from companies that we guarantee have the correct tools in place to engage with the travel trade."

More than 50% of all inbound tourism is booked through an intermediary.

Joss Croft, chief executive of UKinbound, added: “Ensuring that buyers are only engaging with trade ready suppliers on the Travel Trade Ready platform is going to make face-to-face meetings more efficient and effective for everyone; and providing immediate support for those suppliers that are not yet ready can only be a good thing for our industry as a whole."

Newman will be attending UKinbound’s Annual Convention in Bristol on 5 and 6 February 2020 to speak about Travel Trade Ready.