Travel motivations as souvenir purchase indicators

The purpose of this study is to analyze what travel motivations influence the type of souvenirs tourists purchase, attributes of the souvenir, and attributes of the store where the souvenir is purchased. Tourists’ travel motivations were predicted to influence souvenir product choice, product attributes, and attributes of the retail environment where souvenirs are purchased. Structural equation modeling (LISREL 8) was used to test the causal relationships between travel motivations and souvenir products, product attributes, and store attributes. Data were collected from 398 tourists who had traveled to Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah using factor analysis dimensions of Likert-like scales. Results indicated that travel motivations have an influence on souvenir products, product attributes, and store attributes. Retailers within the souvenir trade should be cognizant of tourists’ travel motivations and provide a souvenir mix that has appealing attributes in an appealing store environment based on these motivations. In this way, retailers can provide a pleasurable and profitable selling environment benefiting the tourist and the economy of the tourist destination.