I feel we should have a more regulated system of accreditation within the travel business, which would wheedle out scammers and members of the public just joining the industry for the perks.

I started at Park Lane College with Woodrow Travel in 1986 and completed a Youth Training Scheme apprenticeship, which runs for between two and three years. I felt extremely lucky to have this opportunity as the business already had another student starting.

During this time, we completed exams and we had to have at least two years' experience with an agency before anyone would potentially employ you.

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As it turned out, it was an excellent investment for my then-boss Mike Woodhead, as I went on to run his company. My inspiration came from an Intasun coach holiday where the rep sat at the front leading the trip – I just thought, 'I can do that!'.

After about 10 years, I decided to go into the business travel sector, completing my BA1 and BA2 training along with [GDS] Galileo. It was a totally different world, but I loved it.

People put their trust – and their savings – in our hands

I'm about to celebrate 40 years in the industry, give or take a blip teaching travel and running an insurance business. Nowadays, companies accept just about anyone – with or without any experience.

You see regular Instagram influencers assuring everyone of how much money they are making in travel, which is laughable. I completely accept it is a wonderful industry to be in and how attractive it is, but I feel this influx of untrained travel agents detracts from our credibility.

This is especially true when you hear stories of people booking holidays only for their trips to be ruined by mistakes or oversights by inexperienced agents or, worse still, people having their money stolen. It gives the wider industry a bad name.

Surely, if agents were properly accredited and had to meet certain standards, this would help prevent situations like these and give consumers greater confidence in who they are booking with.

As a business owner, I generally ask for two or more years' experience for anyone wishing to join Tivoli Travel. We have had younger employees come to us from college as we offer work experience for them and local schools. They have then gone on to work with larger companies in the travel industry.

I really do love to encourage people of any age to join this industry. However, there needs to be more guidance when it comes to recruiting less experienced agents.

Members of the public are putting their trust, and sometimes life savings, in our hands – we owe it to them to make sure that everything is done professionally.

As told to TTG's Dea Jusufi. Jo Richards is the owner of Yorkshire agency Tivoli Travel.