Travel Curious, a private tour and experience company which set up shop 12 months ago, has launched the initiative to get people virtually travelling during the coronavirus pandemic.

The first tour was around Little Italy in New York with retired NYPD officer Dennis, and it went live on 24 March on @TravelCuriousTours on Instagram.

It was so successful, Travel Curious said, they put 20 more livestreamed tours in the pipeline, including of St Albans which took place on 27 March and of Dublin which took place today (28 March).

“Watching a livestreamed tour on Instagram is not quite the same as actually being there on your own, bespoke, private Travel Curious tour, but it’s the next best thing,” said Amir Azulay, Travel Curious’s chief executive.

“These are difficult times for us all, especially in the travel industry, but we wanted to support our tour guides at this time, and also to provide some welcome respite for people by bringing the world into their homes, one tour at a time.”

Azulay said he hopes the livestreams temporarily satisfy clients’ “wanderlust”.

The company, which has 900 guides around the globe, is looking to work more closely with travel agents and has set up a dedicated trade site at travelcurious.net/