I Want This Ramses’ Statue: Motives and Meanings of Tourist Souvenirs

Decrop, Alain; Masset, Julie

doi:10.5848/csp.3259.00002

Cited by 12 publications

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“…Aside from the economic benefits, shopping offers opportunities to socialize and learn. It is therefore a space in which a tourist consumes not only time but also buys retail products, ideas, friendship, trust, entertainment, design, culture and history (Decrop and Masset, 2011). Shopping items preferred by tourists are very diverse, ranging from handmade gifts, crafts, fashion, accessories and jewellery to kitchen utensils, home appliances, medicine and automobiles (Kozak, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Luxury shopping orientations of mainland Chinese tourists in Hong Kong

2017

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Previous literature has focused on luxury tourism or luxury shopping, revealing that luxury-driven attitudes comprised unveiled reasons such as materialism, a desire for social status and the need to conform with others. Different outlets play different roles in the enactment of shopping attitudes, but even this has been scarcely researched within the context of tourism. This research combines these three areas of research in order to assess how materialism, the desire for status or to conform with others enact tourists’ intentions of buying luxuries while on holiday, within different outlets. A sample of 314 tourists in Hong Kong was used to test eight hypotheses, by means of an ordered probit model. The study’s findings enlighten the social nature of luxury tourists’ shopping behaviours, a nature that depends not only on what they buy but also largely on where they buy.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Luxury shopping orientations of mainland Chinese tourists in Hong Kong

2017

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“…This study provides an in-depth understanding of the meanings and functions of souvenirs through the development of a typology of symbolic souvenirs. Such an exploration of the functional and symbolic dimensions of souvenirs adds value to the descriptive view of Gordon's (1986) typology and to the motivational typology of Decrop and Masset (2011). Moreover, our typology extends Gordon's presentation of the souvenir as ''a material reminder'' and ''a living messenger of the extraordinary,'' by highlighting four major functions souvenirs may fulfil in terms of consumers' meanings and identity construction.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 70%

“…(Some) tourist souvenirs are often considered as special possessions to which consumers assign deep meanings (Wallendorf and Arnould, 1988;Belk, 1997). A small number of researchers have attempted to interpret the meanings of such souvenirs more extensively (Baker et al, 2006;Decrop and Masset, 2011;Gordon, 1986;Littrell, 1990;Littrell et al, 1993;Love and Sheldon, 1998;Shenhav-Keller, 1993). Baker et al (2006) explore the symbolic meanings attached to children's vacation souvenirs.…”

Section: Meanings Of Souvenirsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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“This is a piece of coral received from captain Bob”: meanings and functions of tourist souvenirs

Decrop

Masset

2014

International Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research

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Purpose -Tourists' special possessions are under-studied in consumer research despite their importance in self-identity development. Furthermore, extant studies about tourist souvenirs fail in providing an extensive and in-depth view of souvenirs, and in exploring both their functional and symbolic dimensions. This paper aims to better and deeply understand the symbols and meanings attached to tourist souvenirs as well as the functions they fulfil in contemporary consumption.Design/methodology/approach -A naturalistic interpretive approach has been privileged. A total of 19 informants have been interviewed and observed at home in a triangulation perspective. Interview transcripts, field notes, and pictorial material were analyzed and interpreted through the grounded theory approach.Findings -A new typology of four types of symbolic souvenirs including touristic trinkets, destination stereotypes, paper mementoes, and picked-up objects is developed. The typology is grounded on four major functions souvenirs may fulfil in terms of meanings and identity construction, that is: categorization, self-expression, connectedness, and self-creation.Originality/value -This study contributes to a better knowledge of tourist souvenirs, which is a typical case of consumers' special possessions that may be central in self-identity processes. Considered as powerful ''messengers of meaning'', tourist souvenirs help consumers to maintain material links with cherished past experiences and to convey individual and cultural meanings to their broader existence. Typologies such as the one developed in this paper are crucial not only for researchers but also for marketers and retailers.

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“…Previous research has extensively studied the motives for buying souvenirs (e.g., Belk 1997; Butler 1991; Decrop and Masset 2011; Gordon 1986; Graburn 1989; Lasusa 2007; Li and Ryan 2018; Littrell 1990; MacCannell 1976; Swanson 2004; Timothy 2005; Wilkins 2011). A number of studies have sought to explore the influence of particular sociodemographic variables (e.g., age, gender, culture/nationality) on souvenir purchase behavior (Anderson and Littrell 1995, 1996; S.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Meanings of Tourist Souvenirs: From the Holiday Experience to Everyday Life

Masset

Decrop

2020

Journal of Travel Research

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Even though research on tourist souvenirs is quite extensive, it fails to provide a holistic and in-depth perspective on their meanings and their evolution in time and space. Through a symbolic interactionist perspective, the current research aims at filling this gap. We conducted a longitudinal study combining interviews, projective techniques, and observations. Our findings provide a holistic and dynamic approach to tourist souvenirs’ meanings by emphasizing their temporal and spatial evolution through three processes. First, we suggest that decontextualization effects and the negative perceptions of some souvenirs may prevent them from entering home. Second, we consider the spatiality of souvenirs within different home areas depending on the meanings they hold for their owners. We also show that the souvenirs’ meaningfulness can also be reactivated over time. Third, we emphasize ways meaningless souvenirs may leave the home sphere. Finally, we discuss managerial suggestions and propose avenues of future research.

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I Want This Ramses’ Statue: Motives and Meanings of Tourist Souvenirs

Cited by 12 publications

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Luxury shopping orientations of mainland Chinese tourists in Hong Kong

Luxury shopping orientations of mainland Chinese tourists in Hong Kong

“This is a piece of coral received from captain Bob”: meanings and functions of tourist souvenirs

Meanings of Tourist Souvenirs: From the Holiday Experience to Everyday Life

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