Free Walking Tours Launceston officially launched at the beginning of the month, run by Madi Biggelaar and Roz Irwin.

The idea took shape after Ms Irwin went on a free walking tour in Japan. She loved the three years experience she had tour guiding in Queensland and wanted to get back into it, but felt as though there was a missing piece.

"I sat on it for a little while, and I mentioned it to Madi ... and she said it was a really cool idea, and we left it there," she said.

"I played around with the idea but it was really overwhelming."

Later, Ms Biggelaar and Ms Irwin attended a Rotary Club of Central Launceston meeting where well-known Northern Tasmanian tourism operator Tara Howell was a guest speaker.

"She was really inspirational," Ms Irwin said.

"Madi was sitting right next to me and I looked at her and said, 'I need to talk to you right after this'.

"I was like, 'this is my idea, and I need you'.

"It just totally came together.

"My weaknesses are her strengths, and my strengths are her weaknesses. I've got all this tour guiding experience, but Madi is really good on social media, a little bit of that networking and pulling those pieces together."

Ms Biggelaar said it became a passion project.

"We've got such deep ties to our community here in Launceston and we've got a huge desire to tell people about it," she said.

"We've both got a background in tourism with our full-time jobs, so building the state's tourism economy is amazing for us for our jobs but also for all of our friends that work in the industry.

"It's Launceston, we know everybody, so it's really great for us to be able to go around and recommend other tours, recommend restaurants that we go to, and let these people know these places actually exist."

Two businesses the duo mention on the tour at Cinco Passiones and Bar Two, which are hidden down an alleyway off Brisbane Street.

"The locals that come on our tour are like, 'this alleyway never existed to me until today'," she said.

"It's a good feeling showing people these places. We come out of every tour like, alright, that's nice, we've helped them a little bit more - which is what we wanted to do with this."

Ms Biggelaar said the "free walking tour" brand was pretty globally known, especially for European travellers.

"They would see the free walking tour brand very regularly in Europe, and the same with some of the major cities in Asia as well," she said. "But it's a little foreign for the locals here."

"It's a pay-what-you-think gratuity-type model, so it means that anybody can come of any budget.

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"We don't expect payment, but it means that we guarantee a great tour. At the end of the tour, if we haven't done a great job no one will tip us.

"It means you can come on the tour quite confident that we'll give it our best shot."

Ms Irwin said a lot of people had asked them, "but what if people don't pay?"

"It's the same as if you charge say $30 for a tour; what if people aren't going to go on your tour because they don't want to give you $30 in case the quality is down?" she said.

"It's pretty much just flipping the risk, which we think is working really well. Some people have come on the tour and given us a small amount and larger amounts, so it really suits different budgets."

Much of the research into the tour took place at the Launceston Library.

The duo aimed to ensure they didn't "cannibalise" any existing tours, instead finding their own stories to tell.

"We started finding these quirky stories behind everything," Ms Irwin said. "Local psychics even wrote books on the ghosts."

"Then you'd research one thing and another book would say the complete opposite thing, so we just tried to bring everything together. Most stories have got two sides anyway.

"A lot of it was linking all the dots together."

Out of the tour, Ms Biggelaar said her favourite story was that of Matthew Brady.

"He's such a fun dude," she said. "He's just so cheeky. It was an immoral time, and he was just so witty but a bit naughty, obviously."

Brady was an English-born convict who went on to become a bushranger after escaping from Sarah Island. He was sometimes referred to as "Gentleman Brady" due to his good manners when robbing his victims.

"My favorite building would be The Majestic. It's such a beautiful building," she said.

Ms Irwin said hers was the Crown Mill.

"I just love the Crown Mill. The story behind it is quirky," she said.

"It was one of the older mills, but then we found out about Thomas Affleck and the injunction and we thought that was a great story.

"It's a really interesting building. I think the more you look at it the more you see the details that are there. I just love the look of it."

She said story-wise, she did love the tale of Minnie the City Park ghost.

"But I think Matthew Brady is my favourite because it's not a ghost story, it's more factual," she said.

"When I read his story to start with, I literally lost it. I thought it was genius."

Other places the tour visits include The Cornwall Hotel, the Brisbane Street Mall, and Civic Square.

Ms Biggelaar said as we moved into the warmer months, there were plans to put on more tours.

"We're trying to really nail this one first, but we'll see where things go from there and try and find some new stories," she said.

Free Walking Tours Launceston caters to locals and tourists alike.

Tours take place on Friday from 4.30pm to 6pm and on Saturday from 9.30am to 11am, with both leaving from the City Park main gates.

Bookings can be made online at freewalkingtourslaunceston.com.

For more information, you can also visit their Facebook page.