WE need cheesy tourism. We need high-culture tourism. We need all the tourism in-between because it means money, it means jobs.
"Tour guides can interact with people on the tour, bring the city to life in a way a recorded commentary simply can't. They give a fuller picture of the city, can digress to explain detail, add colour and inject humour."
Manchester, as a big city with a big-boned history, can play the field. Think York and think heritage, think Blackpool and think seaside, think Keswick and think people with brightly coloured anoraks and a steely determination to make it up Skiddaw before the rain sets in.
Manchester though should accommodate the rough with the smooth, the shallow with the profound.
A walk through weekend Manchester recently swished past the Bridgewater Hall with the Hallé Orchestra performing Beethoven's 6th, encountered hen and stag parties staggering down Portland Street, skirted past a poster advertising odd performance art in Islington Mill, and finished up on Quay Street with a choice of Zach Braff at The Opera House and 2-4-1 deals in Walkabout.
All good. Variety is the spice of life.
Yet compared to even Liverpool, we lack some essential tourist experiences alongside all the gigs, shows, drinks, events and frequent markets.
We don't really do way-finding in the city centre, there are next to no history boards, no kids playgrounds and the waterways are under-exploited.
We don't even have an open-top bus tour.
Fortunately this defect is about to be remedied by Jason Earl of Earl's Limousines.
The last open-top bus tour in the city collapsed three years ago beneath the weight of its own mediocrity.
As a tourist experience the tour was poor featuring a God-awful taped commentary that was frequently out of sync with the sights being passed. The tour also went to the Trafford Centre, across miles of trading estate desolation, seemingly to ensure that visitors might appreciate the glory of the large out-of-town shopping centre.
Earl, in association with Manchester Guided Tours, is upping the open-top bus game.
"We're working with Manchester Tour Guides," Earl says, "to make the experience much better by using live guides who can respond to the people on the tour and the situations they pass. At the same time we'll be improving the route to include all the key places in the city."
Excellent news, but where did he acquire an open-top bus in the first place?
"We bought it from the company that had done the tours previously," says Earl. "Initially I thought I'd use it just for events and special occasions and it's done a lot of those. But it always seemed a shame that it wasn't being used for what it had been built for."
"So from Good Friday, 6 April," continues Earl, "we'll be starting regular weekend tours, and if these work out we'll boost the number of excursions."
The tours will pick up on Chorlton Street, between Yates Wine Lodge and the Britannia Hotel and just down the road from the Manchester Visitor Information Centre on Portland Street.
The tour will take approximately two hours and cover most of the main city sights from MediaCity and Old Trafford in the west to Sportcity and the Etihad Stadium in the east. Prices will be £15 for adults, £8.50 for kids and £12.50 for pensioners.
There will be an official launch on March 14 with the Lord Mayor in attendance.
Views From The Quays Back To The City Centre In February 2012
"We've even got a deal with Manchester United," says Earl. "There'll be the regular bus tour but also one-offs stopping at Old Trafford. On these excursions, which will also take in most of the main city locations, we'll give people a twenty minute taster tour of the stadium for a fiver."
This could be a winner.
Many partners of dedicated United fans find the full stadium tour at around ninety minutes overfacing. Let's hope a similar deal can be struck with City.
Back to the live tour guide commentary.
Sibby from Manchester Tour Guides and a qualified Green Badge Guide (like Morrissey she only has the one name), explains the benefits: "Tour guides can interact with people on the tour and bring the city to life in a way a recorded commentary simply can't. Guides give a fuller picture of the city, can digress to explain detail, add colour, inject humour and respond to situations as they occur."
Of course the tours will only be a success if they can attract enough audience.
But as an introduction to the city for guests who are unable to take part in a walking tour, or want to gain a more comprehensive geographical view of the city from east to west, then the tours are a very welcome addition to Manchester's tourism infrastructure.
After all they are part of that package of typical tourist activity visitors expect to find in cities.
"We feel we can fill a gap here, and boost what the city offers," says Earl.
There are some more pictures of the bus at a Linford Christie Street Athletics event in Albert Square in 2011 here.
You can follow Jonathan Schofield on Twitter here @JonathSchofield
Manchester Town Hall
Inside John Rylands Library
