Pandemic Tours launches in Manchester

The world’s first free virtual tour app – which allows you to stroll around cities and attractions guided by your smartphone – is piloting in Manchester.

Forget about old fashioned crowded tours, not having information about guides beforehand or waiting for a tour to start.

Pandemic Tours offers walking tours, made by experienced and knowledgeable veteran guides, so people can stroll around cities and attractions for free at their own pace.

Whether you are fascinated in history, architecture, pub crawling, music, football or other stuff; the Pandemic Tours platform will gather all interests under the same roof so when you are looking for a unique experience you just go to the same app.

With Pandemic Tours, just choose the city or attraction, select the tour that suits you best and then you are ready to start discovering the world at your leisure.

Every tour comes with an interactive map marked with the stops where you can listen to or read stories about that building, landmark or historical figure with photos and video to bring it alive for walkers.

Also provided are handpicked insider recommendations for places to eat and drink, seasonal events and perfect selfie spots close by.

Pandemic Tours is the brainchild of University of Manchester graduate entrepreneur Joaquin Contreras who saw a gap in the tourism market.

He said: “Pandemic Tours was born out of the limitations and restrictions put on all of our lives by Covid 19. With travel bans and limits to household mixing the traditional walking tour is almost dead so we’ve come up with an app which allows you to stroll around places and learn about them as if you were on a tour with a conventional guide.”

Pandemic Tours is launching its app with a free two-hour walking tour around Manchester city centre. The tour lets you stroll around the city with ten different stops at places like St Peter’s Square, Canal Street and Chinatown.

A new walking tour of York is just out of the oven and Pandemic Tours have plans to cover the rest of the UK.

The idea for Pandemic Tours was born during Joaquin’s year at the University of Manchester studying for an MA in Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship but it was the support from the Masood Entrepreneurship Centre at Alliance Manchester Business School that really helped turn it into a reality.

He said: “I was awarded a £1,000 Nick Sandars kickstarter award which helped me get Pandemic Tours off the ground and get the app built. I’ve had the opportunity to access a business coach, workshops and consultancy which has been great for honing where I put my efforts in the business, establishing goals and working to timescales.”

To download the Pandemic Tours app visit www.pandemictoursapp.com or go directly to Google Play or the App Store on your smartphone.