When people go on vacation, many collect some sort of memento from their trip. Joe and I (well, mainly I LOL) make sure to get a refrigerator magnet and a Christmas ornament from every place we go. The list of other, usually more interesting, things that people collect from their travels could fill a blog post (oh, wait…IT DID!)
But just as people tend to collect certain things, on the whole, they also tend to buy the same things from the same places. So if someone were to tell you that the top-selling souvenir in, let’s say Cuba, was cigars, you probably wouldn’t be super surprised, right? Or that the most popular thing tourists buy in Australia was boomerangs. Matryoshka dolls in Russia? Of course! And what would a visit to Canada be without bringing home some maple syrup?
But did you ever think that the most popular souvenir in Zimbabwe would be fabrics? Or in Brazil were hammocks? And I bet you wouldn’t think that the One Ring was the most popular souvenir in New Zealand. Well, then again, maybe you would ;-).
Anyway Club Med collected data to determine was the most popular souvenir was in each country around the world. Their methodology was admittedly, not super standardized – using travel articles and other media, they researched what souvenirs were most frequently associated with each nation. Then they cross-referenced that list with Google search data to figure out which item got the most interest per destination. And if there wasn’t a clear souvenir to attribute to a country, then the country was simply left off the list. But do you know what? Even if not super scientific, it still seems pretty accurate. Take a look (you can click on the name of each geographic area for a larger photo):
AFRICA
ASIA
EUROPE
NORTH AMERICA
OCEANIA
SOUTH AMERICA
This page from Club Med’s website has more info about the whole thing. Again, it’s not super scientific, but it’s still an interesting read. Enjoy!
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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
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