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Comment by Grue3 | Hacker News Reader

>Tourists tend to be cheap, and have zero emotional investment in what they're touring

Then why do souvenir shops exist? Wouldn't they be extremely unprofitable if this was true?

Souvenir shops basically prove this phenomenon. The goods they sell are universally crappy and not a true representation of the place. The sorts of things they sell are about proving to others that you went there, not about taking back a piece of the actual experience. A souvenir is the physical equivalent of a selfie.

This.

Whenever I go I try really hard to find actual local craft and buy a single thing that is connected to place and will remind me of if.

Universally this one thing will cost me more but its actual local craft not Chinese import.

I've found you can buy the exact same generic souvenirs off Amazon when you get back. Less hassle and much cheaper.

Souvenirs are a way to signal to your friends & family. People don't buy them because they serve a practical purpose.

That's precisely the argument he was making...

Buying impractical things for social signalling is not characteristic of frugality.

Not necessarily. To suggest that souvenirs are only used for showing off is pretty cynical. For example, I cannot fathom how people buying fridge magnets use them to let everybody know about their trip. I doubt they buy them with the intention of signaling to their house guests every time the guests look at their fridge. A lot of people buy souvenirs (memorabilia) just for themselves because they evoke nice memories.

If the goal was to let everybody know that you went travelling, you can simply post pictures in some social media network.

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