From spring 2024, the special interest holiday operator will “power” itineraries from Traveleyes, the tour operator Latif set up in 2004. The programme will feature holidays for blind and sighted people, travelling together. 

HF Holidays chief executive David Harrington said: “We are honoured to join forces with Amar Latif and his company, Traveleyes, to continue their ground-breaking work in challenging preconceptions surrounding vision-impaired travel and provide greater inclusivity to travel experiences. 

“Here at HF Holidays, we are excited to learn from operating, and powering the Traveleyes product, whilst providing our group walking holiday expertise to Traveleyes."

Latif, who appeared as the first-ever blind contestant on Celebrity MasterChef in 2020, said: “[This partnership] means that Traveleyes continues to move forward and expand, opening up more of the world to all our customers and helping them create more shared memories whilst enjoying the HF Holidays’ ethos of fun, friendship, fellowship and fresh air.”

He continued: “I launched Traveleyes after I tried to book myself onto group holidays and faced rejection after rejection by travel companies who wouldn’t accept me as an independent blind traveller."

“I realised that If I wanted travel to work for me, I had to change the way travel works, so I set up an international tour operator that takes blind and fully sighted people around the world together."

Latif added: “I wanted to create holidays with a difference for both blind and sighted travellers to engage and stimulate all the senses.

"With Traveleyes, fully-sighted travellers guide and describe the sights for our visually impaired holidaymakers and in return they receive a discount, as well as enjoying a sociable, sensory holiday experience.”