Food souvenirs as gifts: tourist perspectives and their motivational basis in Chinese culture

ABSTRACTSpecialty foods are popular gift souvenirs among Chinese tourists, and food has abundant meaning in Chinese gift-giving culture. This case study considers an example of Chinese gift giving, investigating Chinese tourists’ food souvenir-purchasing behaviors and the relationship between purchasing motives and product attributes. This study collected 380 valid questionnaires from Chinese tourists in Taiwan. A significant canonical correlation was found between purchasing motivations and product attributes, and this significant correlation applied to three separate motivations, namely, purchases as gifts, purchases as souvenirs to preserve memories and purchases as evidence. The symbolic aspects of the food are the most important attributes to be considered. Based on the results, this study makes several practical and academic suggestions.