Souvenirs and Tourism Promotion in Ghana

Samuel Owusu-Mintah

doi:10.47127/ijtmr.v1i2.21

Abstract

This paper examines the types of souvenirs produced and their importance in the promotion of tourism in Ghana. The study also seeks to identify the motives behind the purchase of souvenirs by tourists visiting the country and it further evaluates the operations of the Accra Arts Centre in the sale of authentic souvenirs to tourists. As souvenirs bought by tourists constitute a major aspect of tourism products of every destination, this study, based on a research work conducted in May 2010, involved a sample size of fifty stakeholders in the souvenir trade at the Arts Centre in Accra, Ghana. Structured questionnaires administered to the respondents, were analysed using simple statistical methods such as frequencies and percentages. The paper argues that souvenirs are as important as the places where they are made and concludes that souvenirs bought by tourists visiting Ghana must be so authentic and finished in such a way that they could compare favourably with others from internationally acclaimed tourism destinations around the world.Keywords: souvenirs; artifacts; memento; promotion; authenticity.

Highlights

Whenever tourists visit places of interest, they would like to carry reminders of their tours back to their places of origin
Because souvenirs will be an item for keep for a long time by tourist, they need to be very authentic to last for a long time
The study revealed that international tourists viewed souvenirs that are made in the image of animals they saw in some of the national parks in Ghana, as highly authentic

Summary

Introduction

Whenever tourists visit places of interest, they would like to carry reminders of their tours back to their places of origin. One way they do this is by buying some items and sending them home as souvenirs. A collection of artifacts and experiences that remind tourists of visits they have made to places of interest. Hitchcock (2000), reports that souvenirs are integral to the material culture and identity of a tourist destination. They become part of the memory of the tourists about places visited and are subject to re-interpretation and reevaluation. The acquisition of a souvenir is not just the collection of objects but of memories and by extension, the experience that provide those memories to people who made the tours

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Conclusion