Tourist trappings: why we all love a tacky souvenir fridge magnet
There is a magnet shaped like Finland, a bottle opener adorned with Austrian edelweiss and an “I Dubai” mug that all come from the very same place. In Charles Zhao’s factory in Wenzhou, China, sentimental markers of places visited and sights seen are made, sold and shipped around the world. There’s a comedy apron that looks like lederhosen; an embroidered badge of Santorini; a keyring shaped like a London bus.
Fifteen years ago, Zhao gave up an “enviable civil service job” to start his company, Talmud. He began by printing promotional gifts – fridge magnets and coasters adorned with the logos of different businesses. But the promotional gifts industry is turbulent, Zhao says, “because the real big brands change their promotion plans almost every year”. He looked for something more stable. He turned to souvenirs.
“The tourist souvenir market is actually a relatively mature market,” Zhao says – he sells around £3.5m-worth of product to wholesalers annually. While Covid-19 temporarily put things on pause, the industry quickly recovered. Aside from the pandemic, Zhao says the souvenir market “has not changed much in recent years”.
That’s something you probably already know. Whether glancing at a German gift shop or scouring a Spanish stall, you’ve likely noticed that many souvenirs are fairly standardised – a neon shot glass here, a miniature building there. Of course, it hasn’t always been this way. According to Lucy Lethbridge, author, the first British tourists were medieval pilgrims and the first souvenirs were cockleshells brought back from the Spanish shrine of St James (the shell was the saint’s emblem).
