Souvenir shopping in Switzerland: A qualitative analysis of travel blogs and its implications for the souvenir trade

Tourism shopping represents an impressive investment by tourists in terms of the time and money involved. In an inductive approach based on case-studies, travel blog entries of tourists who had recently visited Switzerland were analysed, leading to a theoretical proposition and to pragmatic, reality-driven suggestions for the souvenir business. The notion of ‘Expert tourist’ emerged as an overarching theme. Depending on the tourists’ own judgment about how good or bad they are at being expert tourists, their perception about souvenirs and subsequently their souvenir buying preferences vary greatly. This needs to be taken into account by the souvenir trade.