Seable Holidays is a pioneering travel company creating accessible adventures for blind and partially sighted people worldwide. From scuba diving in Sicily to safaris in Africa, Seable Holidays offers expertly guided trips designed to engage every sense, ensuring that every traveller – regardless of their vision – can explore, connect, and enjoy the magic of discovery.
In this interview, founder Damiano La Rocca shares how his passion for inclusive tourism inspired him to build an award-winning enterprise that makes travel enjoyable, empowering, and truly open to everyone.
Also, scroll down to see how you can get an exclusive discount on your Seable Holiday.
Damiano La Rocca is the CEO and founder of Seable Holidays. He has been doing holidays for blind and partially sighted people for 13 years. He moved to London at the age of 19 and set up the company during his final year of university.
He is also a member of the Office for the Disability Issues for the Disability Regional Stakeholder Network and a member of the Accessible European Network of Accessible Tourism.
The launch of Seable Holidays
Damiano began by sharing what inspired him to start a tourist operator for blind and partially sighted people and how Seable Holidays launched:
“When I was finishing university, I was already passionate about tourism, and as part of my studies, I focused on sustainable tourism, and obviously, one of the pillars of sustainable tourism is accessible tourism. So, when writing my dissertation, I decided to do a case study on Sicily, which is where I’m from.
“At a similar time to my dissertation, my father had helped a blind girl and a wheelchair user achieve a Guinness World Record in scuba diving.”
The visually-impaired diver, Benedetta Spampinato, made history in 2007 by descending to a depth of 41 metres in the waters of Syracuse, supported by HSA instructor Carmelo La Rocca (Damiano’s father) and his Life ONLUS association.
Around the same period, Martino Florio, a paraplegic diver, reached an incredible 51 metres below the surface – a record achieved after months of disciplined preparation and teamwork, also with the support of Carmelo.
“At the beginning, I looked into holidays for wheelchair users and blind people to see what was on offer, and realised that it wasn’t a thing. There was a lack of options for people in wheelchairs, as well as people with visual impairments.
“So, I set up a small scuba diving holiday at the beginning. I thought it was going to be mainly water sports, and Sicily was going to be my main destination.
“But I quickly realised that not everyone wanted to go scuba diving, and actually, there was a massive gap for relaxing holidays and city breaks for blind and partially sighted people.”
Damiano ran holidays for wheelchair users for a couple of years, but felt there were many other tourist operators that offered those types of services, and therefore decided to concentrate on supporting those with sight loss.
He continued: “We set up as a social enterprise and we made it the mission to be 360 degrees focused on people who are blind and partially cited, focusing on their wellbeing… and to draft holidays tailored to them that are enjoyable, but also have an impact.”
But as someone who began with very little knowledge of how to support people with sight loss, Damiano had to do some research and training.
He said: At first, it was mainly myself, so I worked on creating the website, the services and the offers, and then tried to get my name out there.”
After securing his first client, an 81-year-old blind veteran visiting Sicily, Damiano soon realised he had no idea how he was going to leave this man without any support, and therefore, he needed to provide a service which included trained sighted guides.
Damiano continued: “I started developing our own manual for guiding, and that’s how it started. Then I realised that I had to work with charities. I had to understand more about visual impairments.
“So I started volunteering for charities. I did training with Guide Dogs and I did training with VICTA, which is a big children’s charity that offers amazing activities for families and kids from 0 to 29. We started working together as well, and I used to organise all of the international trips at some point.
“It then developed, getting stronger and stronger with more and more people going abroad.”
Which destinations does Seable Holidays offer?
Seable Holidays offers more than 20 destinations across the globe. Places include multiple Italian cities, Berlin, Vienna, Venice, Romania and Ireland. There are also skiing holidays to Slovenia, city breaks in London and Edinburgh and even tailored trips to Disneyland Paris. There are also many long-haul destinations across South America, Africa and Asia.
Damiano explained more about the holiday packages and the destinations available:
“We currently have a list of destinations that we offer, and they’re divided into two. We have tailored holidays and group holidays. The tailored holidays are basically like a normal tour operator, where you phone up, and you have a brochure with all the destinations. Those are the destinations where we have local sighted guides that are trained, DBS checked, and tested.
“There is also a list of activities that you can choose from, and these activities have all been tested to make sure that they’re enjoyable and accessible. So you choose your activities, you choose your destination, you tell us where you want to go, what time of the year and then we look for availability of guides, accommodation and activities, and that’s it. We package it up, and we put together the offer.
Damiano went on to explain about the group holidays: “We also have a list of group holidays. We have one to two sighted guides and all the activities included. The difference is that instead of being an individual, a couple, or a family, you are in a group of people that you don’t know, usually six to eight people on the European trips, and then 10 to 12 on the long-haul trips.”
Occasionally, some people request a specific destination and for charities, there are on-demand destinations, and the team will look into, arrange the planning and use these trips as training holidays. The current training holiday available is to Panama.
Damiano also shared Seable Holidays’ most popular destinations: “The long hauls seem to be quite popular. As soon as we put them out, they get booked up pretty quickly.
“Safaris are our newest product. We launched it this year, and already we’re doing another one next year. It’s one of the first blind safaris, and it’s amazing. We do three different parks, and we stay in the park. So when you wake up, you go outside of your room, you might have a family of warthogs just wandering around, or zebras – it’s really magical. And in one of the accommodations, you can open the window and hear the rhinos snoring.
Other long-haul destinations Damiano mentioned included Ecuador, Galapagos, Vietnam and Cambodia.
Sicily is the most popular European destination as it’s got a good mix of activities, including the sea and watersports, mountains, food and culture. And Damiano said, “cost-wise, it’s also one of the cheapest as well”.
What accessibility facilities does Seable Holidays provide?
When people usually read or hear the phrase accessible facilities, they usually refer to ramps, lifts and disabled toilets. But for blind and partially sighted people, it’s all about being able to use their other senses to enjoy different experiences on holiday.
Damiano went into more detail about how Seable Holidays supports people with sight loss on their travels:
“Audio description, first of all. So if the activity is fully visual, which happens because a lot of places are purely just visual. We audio-describe it – tell you what it looks like, the material, how it is built, and if you can touch it. We always try and make you touch everywhere we can.
“In all of our destinations, we have different styles. So, for example, in the Italian city tours, we have either tactile maps of the city or 3D models of the monuments. With the Colosseum, we would have a small model of it, and you can touch it to understand its shape. And then when you do the tour inside, it’s totally audio-described, and you can touch pretty much everything.”
As well as audio described and tactile sightseeing, Damiano also shared some of the other mini experiences available on holiday that people can enjoy regardless of their visual impairment, such as learning to cook, wine tasting, sports activities, and skiing – it all depends on people’s tastes and preferences.
He added: “We have an offer for pretty much everyone. Yes, the audio description is crucial, and the guides are crucial to the holiday, so we put a lot of effort into finding the right people because our guides really make the holidays. It’s pretty much down to them. It doesn’t matter where we are, the activities might be excellent, but the guides really do make the holiday.”
In addition, a majority of Seable Holidays’ staff who arrange these adventures are blind or visually impaired themselves, so they have lived experience of what it’s like to live with sight loss and understand the kind of accessibility needed to enjoy an amazing holiday.
Although primarily a tourist operator supporting blind and visually impaired people, Seable Holidays does support people with other disabilities or multiple impairments.
Discussing this in more detail, Dammiano said:
“As much as we can with our licensing and things like that, we do offer holidays for people who have other disabilities as well. We have quite a few people who are registered blind and in wheelchairs. We only offer holidays to certain destinations that have accessible vans or accessible accommodation. A lot of our destinations are in old towns or rural areas, so we wouldn’t be able to do them all…”
“We do work with other companies that specialise in holidays for wheelchair users, and some of them do have carers that you can rent out. We would either recommend you to someone like that, if you have more needs that we don’t cover.”
Damiano added that some people with mild disabilities who do not require care support also benefit from Seable Holidays, including those who have some limited mobility, hearing impairments or are deaf-blind.
In terms of how Seable Holidays differs from other tour operators that support blind and partially sighted travellers, Damiano said:
“Our model is different from the others because we offer trained sighted guides, as opposed to either volunteers or sighted people on holiday. I know there are other models, but they are not just for the blind – they are for everyone. If you’re blind, you get paired up with other sighted travellers. So that’s one model.
“Our model is different. We have someone looking after you in a paid position, so they’re there to look after you, to make sure that you have a good holiday. It’s a different quality of service. It’s a guarantee that someone is there to look after you. There is also attention to detail. We put a lot of work into the training of the guides, into trying the activities, and into the information that we give before the trips, during the trips, and after the trips. So that’s why we have a high percentage of returning customers. I think it’s because of the care we provide.
“Just to give you an example, we had a group in Sicily last month, and the flight was delayed and then cancelled on the way back. It was 11:30 at night, and someone called saying they were basically stranded. So I asked to speak to the captain of the plane, because they were basically inside a plane. They didn’t want to leave without knowing what was going to happen outside of the plane.
“I spoke with the captain of the plane, and I said you need to tell me what the plan was, you need to tell me who’s picking them up, where they’re going, etc. We then arranged sighted guide assistance for them at midnight to be picked up from the airport. They got transferred to a hotel that was arranged by the airline, and we did the room orientation for all of them. It was about eight people, and that was in the middle of the night. We got them food, so we went and found some open places that did food, and then we arranged for breakfast in the rooms, and then we showed up in the morning to do checkouts. So we just made sure in this situation, they are looked after.”
Why should blind people consider travelling?
For many people who are blind or partially sighted, the thought of travelling the globe can be very daunting and maybe even pointless for some.
Even before filming his travellog series, blind comedian Chris McCausland admitted he felt very reluctant to travel and thought there was no point visiting world landmarks when he couldn’t see, which can be an echoed feeling for many other people with sight loss.
However, Damiano has assurance that by travelling with Seable Holidays, you will experience so much more than meets the eye on these incredible tailored trips:
“I think that you should definitely get out and try and travel because travel is just so much more. It’s conquering your fears, it’s learning about new cultures, and I suggest always plan. A plan is what reduces stress. Even if you decide not to use a specialist service, like us, there is enough information online to plan your holiday.”
Damiano highlighted that not only should you consider the accessibility of the activities on your trip, but also the other logistics, such as accessing airports and train stations, and having the right reasonable adjustments in your accommodation or hotel room.
He concluded: “If you don’t want to plan because it’s a lot of work, then come with us, you’re in safe hands. We have done it for a long time, and I can guarantee that it’s going to be a very nice holiday.”
Get £50 off your Seable Holiday with the code SXC2026
Seable Holidays is offering an exclusive discount for Crip Life™ readers. When booking your next trip, mention the code SXC2026, and you will get £50 off your holiday. (Valid until 31/12/2026 – T&Cs apply. Code valid for new bookings, not valid for use against charity holidays or in conjunction with any other offers.)
To find out more and book your next accessible adventure, visit the Seable Holidays website.