Tourism Merchandise and Souvenirs:Discussion on the Conceptual Definitions and Local Features

In China, both the conceptual and technical definition of tourism merchandise remains ambiguous, which already has negative impacts on the tourism theoretical research and practice. Based on the review of literature concerning the tourism merchandise, a new definition is thereby given. It refers to not only the commodities a tourist buys during the tour, but also the stuff he purchases before the trip as preparation, including the souvenirs and duty - free goods. Yet food, drinks and any kind of buying with business purposes are excluded. According to this definition, tourism merchandise appears to be a "collective" and "role - playing" term. The core of the tourism merchandise is souvenir. Uniqueness is the intrinsic quality of souvenirs. The future research concerning local features is recommended at last.