Travel the Unknown, which bills itself as an experiential holiday company, offers small group and tailor-made tours to destinations such as Iran, Ethiopia, Bhutan and the Balkans.

Rahul Aggarwal, one of the founders of Travel The Unknown, said: “We have resisted selling through the trade until now because we didn’t want to do it half-heartedly.

“Our trips require a good level of knowledge for any agent to secure a sale; for example, Iran is one of our most popular destinations, but we appreciate that it is unlikely that most people will have an in-depth knowledge of its sites and culture.” 

The operator has employed consultancy Robert Dee Associates to develop the trade side of the business and it has already started visiting agents around the country.

“We are offering agents a sliding, generous commission, depending on the number of people booked onto a trip - we have a maximum of 12 people on any given departure,” added Aggarwal.

“We also offer end-to-end agent support, and are more than happy to step in to speak to clients on the agent’s behalf if needs be, to help them to secure the sale and the commission.”  

Travel the Unknown offers a 14-day Best of Bhutan trip from £3,395pp excluding international flights (£4,295pp with flights) or a 14-day Classical Iran tour from £3,295pp with international flights.