Product Code Database
A souvenir (French language for 'a remembrance or memory'), memento, keepsake, or token of remembrance is an object a person acquires for the memory the owner associates with it. A souvenir can be any object that can be collected or purchased and transported home by the traveler as a memento of a visit. The object itself may have intrinsic value, or be a symbol of experience. Without the owner's input, the symbolic meaning is lost and cannot be articulated.
Throughout the world, the souvenir trade is an important part of the tourism industry serving a dual role, first to help improve the local economy, and second to allow visitors to take with them a memento of their visit, ultimately to encourage an opportunity for a return visit, or to promote the locale to other tourists as a form of word-of-mouth marketing. Promotional tchotchke at trade shows serve a similar function. Perhaps the most collected souvenirs by tourists are self-generated: photographs as a medium to document specific events and places for remembrance.
Souvenirs as objects include mass-produced merchandise such as clothing: and ; : , refrigerator magnets, , , souvenir and Token coin, miniature , Physical model, , ; household items: souvenir spoon, , bowls, plates, , , fudge, notebook, Drink coaster, and many others.
Souvenirs also include non-mass-produced items such as folk art, local artisan handicrafts, objects that represent the traditions and culture of the area, non-commercial, natural objects such as sand from a beach, and anything else that a person attaches Nostalgia value to and collects among their personal belongings. The collecting of natural items such as seashells, plants, or rocks is often discouraged due to ecological damage. Especially the export of endangered plants and animals (or products made of their fur or leather) as souvenirs is strictly regulated by international laws.
A more grisly form of souvenir (here as an example of war booty) in the First World War was displayed by a Pathan soldier to an England Territorial. After carefully studying the Tommy Atkins's acquisitions (a fragment of shell, a spike and badge from a Germany helmet), he produced a cord with the ears of enemy soldiers he claimed to have killed. He was keeping them to take back to India for his wife.Reagan, Geoffrey: Military Anecdotes (1992), Guinness Publishing, p. 20,
Examples include sporting events, historical events, culture, and entertainment. Such items include: apparel; game equipment; publicity photographs and ; magic memorabilia; other entertainment-related merchandising; film memorabilia; airline and other transportation-related memorabilia; and , among others.
Often memorabilia items are kept in protective covers or display cases to safeguard and preserve their condition.
Travelers may buy souvenirs as for those who did not make the trip. A common tradition is to bring a thank-you gift for someone who provided a service such as pet sitting during the trip.
In the Philippines a similar tradition of bringing souvenirs as a gift to family members, friends, and coworkers is called pasalubong.
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