3.4 Recruiting
3.4.2 Screening Interview
Screening interviews are conducted to understand one’s travel experience and souvenirs he or she brought from travel. Each interview lasts for 20~30 minutes.
In the part of “travel experience”, for acquiring narratives about souvenirs getting and memories attached experience, people who have travel experience during the past three years were preferred. Meanwhile, for observing souvenirs storage and memories evoked context, the journey is better be more than three months ago. Moreover, this research focuses on overseas travel experiences. In summary, people who went abroad for traveling during the period from 2004 to the beginning of 2007 met the criteria.
In the part of “souvenirs possessed”, people were asked if they have any meaningful or special souvenir brought from travel. The term “meaningful and special souvenir” let people understand what kind of souvenir is the main concern in this research, more easily than “souvenirs keeping memories”. A description of souvenirs written according to the
research issues was used for screening the souvenirs mentioned by people.
Description:
- A specific event, place, moment or experience can be told from the souvenir.
- The tourist took part in the experience for acquiring the souvenir.
- The souvenir was brought back from travel area.
- The souvenir has something to do with the travel area.
- There is a sign or clue to show where the souvenir came from.
- The souvenir is tangible.
(Digital photos and video recorded are not the major concern.) - The souvenir is taken personally and kept by the tourist.
Because the contextual inquiries take place where the souvenirs are placed, mostly home, recruiting informants is not easy. Many people feel uncomfortable to let strangers enter their place, not to mention taking photos and recording the conversation. All of the informants were recruited from friends of the researcher or people introduced by researcher’s friends. Twenty-nine potential informants were screened personally or indirectly by the screening interview. Two of them were selected to join the pilot interview.
Seven people matching the criteria and being willing to accept the contextual inquiry were decided to be the informants at the end. Even if the screening interview was conducted in advance, it was still hard to let people understand what kind of souvenirs was the major concern. Therefore, conducting the inquiry at home, where the souvenirs were placed, brought a large advantage. During the conversation in the session, the researcher could encourage informants to show more souvenirs that did not come to their mind before.
Moreover, souvenirs which were big, heavy or fixed to somewhere could be seen.
Table 2 Profile of informants
Informant Age(yrs) Gender
Travel destinations
(2004~the beginning of 2007)
Number of
souvenirs provided
A 25 female Egypt 8
B 25 male UK 7
C 26 female Japan 2
D 25 male Japan, Bali Indonesia 4
E 24 female UK, Italy, Sweden, Netherlands 6
F 27 male Peru, Eastern Europe, Japan 5
G 25 female
Egypt, Northern Europe,
Australia, Switzerland, Germany, France, Portugal,
5
-Chapter 4-
Findings
After contextual inquiries and interviews, the data were analyzed and sorted with affinity diagram. The transcripts were coded into notes and then clustered into patterns, which were organized to create the hierarchy. Five main themes have been concluded to show the various phases of findings about a meaningful souvenir. The first theme is about tourists’
behavior of getting things. The behavior involved in memories keeping are specially pointed out and categorized. In the second theme, the factors making souvenirs meaningful to people are presented. In the third theme, contents of memories evoked by souvenirs are categorized. Finally, how souvenirs exist in people’s daily life and situations
Figure 2
for memories to be evoked are reported.
Affinity Diagram
.1 Tourists’ Behavior
e found for tourists to keep their travel memories: taking photos, 4
Three main activities ar
writing travel notes and bringing back souvenirs. Tourists get souvenirs for many reasons.
In some cases, it is because the souvenirs are useful and practical; in some other cases, the souvenirs are popular due to uniqueness or beauty. Besides, some people think that since they travel to an outland, they should bring back something indigenous. Focusing on the reason of keeping memories, behavior of obtaining souvenirs can be categorized to five primary actions, namely: collecting the same item from different places, picking up
piece-of-the-rock [11], taking artifact, purchasing merchandise, and passively preserving things they got due to other reasons. These five actions indicate how tourists obtain souvenirs out of memories keeping motivation.
4.1.1 Collecting the Same Item from Different Places
rent places. Putting them together
formant F:
n climbing stick”
bing stick at each specific height, from the bottom of the
.1.2 Picking up Piece-of-the-rock
ous for its natural environment, people tend to gather
formant D
e beach of Bali”
li is whiter. Sometimes I forget that the sand is bigger or ourists like to collect the same kind of things from diffe
T
not only forms a spectacular collage but also present a complete record for people to remember the travel destinations they have visited. People gain fulfillment in proving where they have been by this way. They also show expectation for different style of the same item. Once they get one in a place, they want to know what the second one in another place looks like, and so on. Every single piece represents different travel experience. When the habit for collecting a specific item is formed, tourists get a target.
Wherever they travel, they are looking for this specific item to bring back.
In
“Fuji Mountai
We got a burned mark on the clim
stick to the top. It is kind of “tourist-like behavior” but really valuable for commemorating the journey. It is like “every step leaves a footprint”.
4
hen traveling to a place that is fam W
items from Nature as souvenirs, e.g., seashells on the beach of Bali, sand in Sahara desert, rocks called “flower stone” from Egypt. Even though the “piece-of-the-rock” looks quite similar to the same item from any other places, it still can remind people of the travel destination and some specific travel experiences. The piece-of-the-rock is also used as a sample for recording the detail. One of the informants uses the sand as a reminder:
In
“Sand from th
The sand from the beach of Ba
smaller kind. Look at it and I will remember again.
Figure 3 Piece-of-the-rock
4.1.3 Taking Artifact
There are always some things which can be taken for free in the journey, mostly leaflets, e.g., business cards, propaganda DM, coolcards. Tourists collecting them for remembering the corresponding travel experiences or details, e.g., taking a business card for remembering a good time at dinner and the address of the restaurant. It can also be used for recording a specific thing consciously and purposely. One of the informants took a piece of coolcard in order to bear a good idea in mind she heard in the store, even if the coolcard does not show any text saying the idea. “Ink” is another form of “artifact taken for free”, which means “stamp”. Offering tourists a representative stamp is quite common in many travel destinations. Stamps may be regarded as evidence showing that the tourists have been to the place.
4.1.4 Purchasing Merchandise
People do purchase merchandise as souvenirs. Many souvenirs purchased do remind the tourists of the travel experiences. However, the findings show a conflict between purchase behavior and memories keeping. Souvenirs seem to be less meaningful if acquired by purchase. Neither do people have much feeling toward them. Some souvenirs purchased are even considered less important and can be given to others as gifts because people think that buying a souvenir is easy.
Informant B
“Leicester Square nameplate”
I simply bought it. There are no special memories inside. I bought it as a souvenir, but on the contrary, there is no meaning of souvenir inside. I was wrong…
4.1.5 Passively Receiving Things which is Got due to Other Reasons
Tourists get things for specific purposes during the journey. A museum map shows the visiting route. A paper box packs the bun. A gallery leaflet introduces the paintings.
Nevertheless, after achieving the purpose, people did not throw them away. Instead, they kept them for holding memories of related experiences. People bought the ticket in order to get entry, while after the visit they kept the stub of the ticket as a record of being there.
For one of the informants, a paper packing box of bun was preserved for commemorating the good time of buying and enjoying the bun. The mood and the travel experiences during that whole day were eventually evoked. If the tourists have a pleasure or exceeding expectations experience, they will more like to keep the related things.
4.2 The Factors for Souvenirs be Meaningful
The factors that make souvenirs meaningful are usually related to travel experiences and encounters. Three kinds of factors are categorized. First, the importance and high using frequency make ordinary things meaningful. Second, if a souvenir reminds people of explicit events that happened in the journey, it becomes meaningful. Finally, the efforts people pay for acquiring a souvenir make it meaningful. It is possible that all of the situations happen on one souvenir, but they respectively reveal different phases of the factors. On the other hand, the factor “aesthetics” was specially mentioned to be unimportant on meaning of souvenirs. Because the contrast is quite strong, it is presented at the end of this section.
4.2.1 Importance and Using Frequency in the Trip
Ordinary things become meaningful when the tourists use it quite often during the trips.
The more often the tourists use the thing during the journey, the more meaningful they consider the thing is after the journey. Besides, the thing which is important in the travel such as a map is still taken to be important after the travel even if the tourists do not use them anymore.
4.2.2 Reminding Explicit Travel Events
Souvenirs which can remind people of explicit events happening in the journey are regarded as meaningful ones. One of the informants keeps all the stubs and considers them to be meaningful because she can recollect those experiences in the journey by them:
Informant C
“Stubs of tickets”
I took the bus therefore I keep the stub. I have been to the exhibition therefore I keep the stub. I can know what I have done afterwards. But what’s the point to bring something like an irrelative candle? If I went somewhere famous for its stones and buy a stone back, I would forget it after few years.
People take the souvenirs which can remind them of travel experiences, as far as meaning is concerned, to be valuable and important. One of the informants claimed that she will never give this kind of “souvenirs with stories” to anyone. Another informant recalled playing a funny game of reciting tube station names in the journey, therefore having a different view on the souvenir:
Informant B
“Tube map”
Therefore it is unlike a tube map…It is like a…marvelous…how to call it…something like activator or enzyme. Anyway it can recall me something more.
Figure 4 Tube map from United Kingdom
People tend to regard the souvenir which keeps more memories as more valued one. When an informant was asked to choose the most cherished souvenirs from all the souvenirs he had introduced, he picked the city map and said that if other things were lost, he could still recall most of the experiences by it.
4.2.3 Efforts having been paid for Acquiring
Gaining by tourists themselves is important experience, which makes things different.
When people pay efforts to get or make something on their own, the thing become
meaningful and valuable. One of the informants indicated that even though he knew he could buy the same thing from the internet, he preferred buying it himself abroad because when he did so, the merchandise got a special meaning.
4.2.4 Unimportant Factor: Aesthetics
When it comes to meaning of souvenirs, people show less interest in aesthetics. Beauty and meaning seems quite separate from each other. People would consider something beautiful, but holding no meaning. They tend to keep the souvenir with meaning instead of a beautiful one, which may be given to others as a gift. One of the informants introduced the postcard she bought:
Informant E
“Postcard from Rome”
The image contains too many information and has no point. I “spiritually” don’t like this kind of layout. But it makes it possible to catch the impression very quickly.
Another informant mentioned the delicacy of the souvenir. But he emphasize that the reason why he keeps the souvenir is the memories attached:
Informant B
“Tube map”
Delicate things can be found everywhere, while it’s the thing that has reminiscent value.
“Sally Lunn's packing box”
Actually I don’t think it is beautiful. But the experience it gave me is very important.”
4.3 The Contents of Memories Evoked
The narratives of travel memories people talked from the souvenirs were analyzed and divided to two main parts according to the contents: place-related and person-related. In the place-related part, three categories were identified. They are presented in the sequence from large-scale to small-scale. The first category shows the remembrance of travel destinations people visited. The second category refers memories bout the whole impression of the destination. The last category presents more detailed memories of the episodes during the journey. In the person-related part, two categories were identified, namely personal feelings and interpersonal interaction. In all of the categories, the souvenirs which evoked the memories are also mentioned.
4.3.1 Place-related: Destinations
When people have traveled many places and put souvenirs brought back together, there will be a “collage” showing the destinations they have been. The memories evoked by the collection are mainly various travel destinations, showing where they have visited. The things introduced by the informants were primarily “I have been to this country, this country and that country…”, while the actual detail is less mentioned. When contemplating respectively on each piece, the typical or symbolic feature of the destination will probably pop out next.
Figure 5 Fridge magnets from various travel destinations
4.3.2 Place-related: the General Impression of the Destination
Memories related to a general impression of a place such as the culture, customs, features of people can be evoked. Memories of local customs are evoked especially when the customs are special and different from those in tourists’ own country. When making tea with teabags from Egypt, the informant recalled the way how Egyptians make their tea:
adding a lot of sugar. When making hot chocolate with cocoa powder from Netherlands, it reminded the informant of hot chocolate with a lot of ground cinnamon, which is a general custom in Netherlands. The mug from Italy evoked the memories of “drinking coffee with a very small cup”. The impression of the people in the destinations is evoked especially when the people have strong characteristics. One of the informants brought back a mug from Italy. The mug is unusually big and has “Made in Italy” written on the bottom. The informant indicated that it reflected the style of Italian:
“The coffee cups in Italy are very small. This one is unusually big and in a coffee cup form.
It is very “bizarre” and reflects the way Italian doing things: there’s no reason.”
4.3.3 Place-related: the Episodes in the Journey
The itinerary and schedule of travel can be evoked, especially by a map. Most tourists can remember where they did something but can not figure out when. Therefore locations are stronger clues for evoking travel experiences. Stories are evoked according to the locations. People pointed to a spot and described “I was doing……in this place”. The marks made by the tourists on the map can especially trigger more travel memories.
Some “bits and pieces” that people get and preserve in their journey can evoke specific events, e.g., a receipt indicating a purchase, a museum ticket stub indicating a visit. The content people told from a piece is quite specific, including the reason they got it, mostly referring to the correspondent event, the experiences in the event, and some details such as date and location, which can be found on the piece.
Informant A
“Train ticket”
Look! My train ticket of sleeping berths, one piece for four persons, 212 pounds, number 13~16, carriage one.
Informant E
“Packing of a cheese knife and the receipt”
I bought a cheese knife in this shop and they all laughed at me because it was made in china. (“Made in China” is written on the packing)
Figure 6 (on the left) Train ticket from Egypt placed in the notebook Figure 7 (on the right) Packing of a cheese knife and the receipt from Italy
Type of tour such as self-service trip or group tour influences people’s intentions of keeping those pieces in the journey. People are more willing to keep them in self-service trips because they would like to remember all the events they had joined since the itinerary and the schedule are arranged by themselves.
The events happening frequently are more likely to be evoked first. The occurring frequency of the events strengthens the evocation of the memories. On a map, the first thing evoked is the accommodation. For one of the informants, the first thing evoked from a journey in Stockholm is snowing because it snowed all the time when she was there.
The scene that souvenirs were obtained are likely to be evoked, including the places, the obtaining process and the related person such as a vendor. A supermarket can be evoked by a can of cocoa powder; an experience of collecting sand on the beach can be evoked by a bottle of sands. The interesting episodes and interaction with local people happening when souvenirs were obtained make the souvenirs meaningful and valued. The events that happened around the time souvenirs obtained can be evoked as well. In some cases, the souvenir did not have a strong link with the place. However, because it was acquired at that time, it evoked the memories about things happening there.
The part of journey that a souvenir is present in is easily evoked by that souvenir.
When the tourist carried a souvenir for a period of time in the journey, after the trip, people will recall the encounters and experiences which happened during that period of time by contemplating the souvenir. One of the informants got a wooden fish in Bali and carried it for the whole afternoon:
Informant D
“Wooden fish from Bali”
I recall the tour in that whole afternoon by this wooden fish because I was looking at this fish all the time on the coach. I love this fish so much!”
Some people take a specific object as a travel companion on purpose. One of the informants bought a puppet of Ekeko, the God of wealth in Peru, in order to carry it as a travel companion, joining the Inca Trail walk. He took photos on it, presenting a story in which Ekeko was traveling the Inca Trail. The inspiration came from the film “Amelie”.
Some people take a specific object as a travel companion on purpose. One of the informants bought a puppet of Ekeko, the God of wealth in Peru, in order to carry it as a travel companion, joining the Inca Trail walk. He took photos on it, presenting a story in which Ekeko was traveling the Inca Trail. The inspiration came from the film “Amelie”.