European first for Manchester’s new Visitor Information Centre

Manchester's new Visitor Information Centre (MVIC) - the first point of call for hundreds of thousands of visitors to the city - was officially opened this morning by Sir Richard Leese, the leader of Manchester City Council. 

The new MVIC makes use of use of sophisticated technology to collect and present information - a far cry from the industry stereotype.

It will be the first Visitor Information Centre in Europe to use Microsoft Surface tables - an innovative computing platform that responds to touch, natural hand gestures and real-world objects placed on a display.

You can watch a demonstration of the MVIC Microsoft Surface tables in action here.
 
The new MVIC, which is located in the Piccadilly Plaza complex on the corner of Portland Street and Parker Street, represents an investment of over £800,000 by Manchester City Council and the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA).

It is expected to significantly increase the number of visitors using the service, which currently stands at 300,000 a year.

Andrew Stokes, chief executive of Marketing Manchester, said: "Tourism in the city-region is a £5.5 billion industry. We welcome over one million international visitors a year to Manchester and support some 77,000 full time equivalent jobs.

"To maintain these figures it was important that we invest in the hands on, customer service element of the visitors' experience of the city - so that we were supplying information to them in an efficient, appropriate and stimulating manner.

"We believe the new MVIC is an industry-leading, best practice example of how visitor information should be provided and we are delighted with the finished result."

Sir Richard Leese, leader of Manchester City Council, said: "The new visitors' centre is in a great location and it looks fantastic. This investment reflects the importance we place on ensuring that visitors to our city get the best possible information for a great experience.

"As you would expect in Manchester, the centre features cutting edge technology but technophobes needn't worry - there will still be people on hand to answer all their questions."

The MVIC development is the latest in a series of major investments by the NWDA to improve the provision of visitor information across Manchester and the Northwest.

Nick Brooks-Sykes, director of tourism at the NWDA commented: "Our aim to have a modern network of well located visitor information centres across the whole of the Northwest. This investment in MVIC brings the centre right up to date; it provides an innovative and engaging visitor experience as well as a well-resourced signposting service for the Manchester city-region and the wider Northwest."

The opening of the new MVIC comes just a month after Visit Manchester re-launched the destination website for the city - www.visitmanchester.com - the first stage of a radical new approach to the digital promotion of the city.

The previous MVIC was located in the Town Hall Extension in St Peters Square and closed earlier this month as part of the major redevelopment of the Town Hall Extension.