Ever wanted a free personal walking tour of the city? Well, after a years-long hiatus, the Toronto Greeters program is returning.

A new relaunch of the program will not involve the City of Toronto but instead a collaboration with the International Greeters Association.

The initiative includes walking tours with a local volunteer for people travelling to the city or residents trying to learn more about their home. Greeters will show visitors the best of Toronto but also take them off the beaten path.

Nicolas Bello started volunteering for the program over 15 years ago when the city ran it and has already expressed his interest to help with the relaunch.

"Former greeters really missed it during this shutdown," Bello told blogTO, noting the former program was officially shut down in early June of 2022, though walks hadn't taken place for a period of time before the closure due to COVID-19.

Though the old program was a "great initiative," Bello believes it may get even better now without the city's hand.

"The old program was such a great initiative but so few people knew about it. The city didn't really market it well. Now because of the tie into the greeters association, I'm hopeful that we'll get more exposure," he said.

The city also informed those in the program "pretty clearly that they no longer have involvement," said Bello.

"I think the expectation now with the new positioning is they'll be able to have more greeters onboarded sooner," he said.

With greeters all volunteering, there is "no financial incentive" involved in becoming part of the program.

"It's people who love Toronto so much that they want to take time out of their schedule to help spotlight it for other people," Bello said, noting the diverse group of greeters are "very representative of Toronto."

"People are driven to showcase all we have to offer here," he said.

Anyone who wants to take a walk with the new greeter program can already send a request through the International Greeters Associations website. People are asked to book at least two weeks in advance.

"Everyone should really try it out if they get a chance," said Bello.

"If they ever want to offload relatives or visiting friends that's a perfect way to do it for a few hours. We will happily take them around and show them the stuff you don't see in the guidebooks."