A travel agent has extolled the virtues of travel insurance from her hospital bed in Mauritius.

Holidaysplease agent Jo Shayler had what she described as ‘a small accident’ and tore her hamstring while away on the Indian Ocean island.

In a video posted on her Instagram account, Jo told her followers about the importance of travel insurance.

Jo, who was being hosted by Holidaysplease at Beachcomber Resorts on the island, said: “I thought today we could talk about travel insurance. I am absolutely fine. I had a small accident and have torn my hamstring and I am in Mauritius.”

She added that she was in a private clinic in Port Louis and made it clear that if she didn’t have any insurance cover she would have been in ‘a completely different situation’.

“It’s really easy to think, ‘I am only going for a couple of days’, ‘I am only going to Europe, for example, so I am not going to bother [with travel insurance]’. Please do,” she said.

“One of the anxieties that I immediately thought of was travel insurance. If I had none, I would be in a completely different situation.”

Jo added she once broke her leg in Las Vegas, and it cost $64,000 to fix but because she had travel insurance she was covered.

“Travel insurance – never travel without it,” she said, adding: “I don’t sell insurance. If you want advice about who to book it with, I can help you with that.

“I have a multi-country [insurance policy] because I never know where I am going to be. Please never travel without travel insurance.”