International tourist’s expenditure on souvenirs in Ghana: Do their socio-demographics have any influence?

Shopping for souvenir is an important aspect of the tourism activity which almost all tourists participate in. The purpose of this paper is to examine the expenditure pattern of international tourists on souvenirs in Accra. The study adopted the descriptive design and questionnaire was administered to gather data. Data collected from 196 international tourists who were sampled from hotspots in Accra, using convenient sampling method, revealed that there was a significant relationship between socio-demographic characteristics of tourists and expenditure on souvenirs. Therefore, socio-demographic characteristics of an individual was found to have likely influence on the individual’s expenditure on souvenirs. Also, a majority of the respondents, who were first time visitors, spent less on souvenirs. A significant average expenditure on souvenirs signifies that the souvenirs business is a profitable business that needs to be maintained and enhanced. Majority of the respondents had souvenirs as part of their purchase plans. Leisure travellers were noted to spend more on souvenirs than other travellers. Souvenir shopping generates a good amount of money and as such the Centre for National Culture and Ghana Tourism Authority should embark on activities aimed at packaging and promoting the arts and crafts of the country so as to arouse sales of souvenirs.


Introduction
Souvenirs form a major component of the tourism retailing system, employing a significant number of people in its production, distribution and sales (Hashimoto & Telfer, 2007). Souvenirs are the material culture of a destination and being custodians of such cultures, the locals are the majority of employees in this sector (Xie, Wu & Hsieh, 2012;UNWTO, 2012). Production and sale of souvenirs have become an easy step for indigenes and ethnic minority to generate income from tourism even in developed economies like USA (Swanson, 2004). An objective of the United Nations World Tourism Organization's (UNWTO) sustainable tourism development plan is to alleviate poverty, using tourism as a tool to diversify the economy (UNWTO, 2011). Tourism has thus become an alternative source of livelihood (Ashley, Boyd & Goodwin, 2000) and income to host communities, destinations and countries at large. Souvenir making supports the traditional agriculture communities where farming and rearing of animals is the major occupation. The production and sale of arts and crafts is a major source of livelihood, especially, for Ghanaians living in rural areas and for Africans at large (Arko-Achemfuor, 2012). The souvenirs industry employs people with lower level education or no formal education. Moreover, this form of employment is not gender-sensitive; it employs both males and females with skills and technical knowledge to produce and sell arts and crafts as souvenirs. In Tanzania for example, women are more involved in the making and sale of souvenirs (Muganda, Sirima, Moshy & Mkumbo, 2012). Also in Miao, China, women produce handicrafts and embroidery (Henderson, Teck, Ng & Si-Rong, 2009) In Ghana, however, men make the drums, wood and metal works whilst women are into garments, clay works, tie-dye, batik and the gathering of raw materials (The Ford Foundation, 2005). Souvenirs liven up communities; money from the sale of souvenirs creates linkages within small communities as the manufacturers and raw materials are sourced from the local communities (Mshenga & Owuor, 2009). The money generated from souvenirs, therefore, stays in the community (Ayodele, 2002).
Souvenir production also creates an opportunity for medium to small-scale enterprises to participate in tourism. This encourages entrepreneurship and its accompanying benefits of jobs creation and income generation. UNWTO (2012) asserts that the production and sale of handicraft is an attractive and economically viable way through which communities participate in tourism. Souvenirs, therefore, provide a sure way of community participation in tourism through employment. According to United Nations World Tourism Organization [UNWTO], 2012), handicrafts form the majority of souvenirs purchased by travellers, especially in new destinations. In relation to items bought during shopping, Xie and Bao (2006) notice that females buy souvenirs more than males. According to Turner and Reisinger (2001), males prefer action-oriented souvenirs which are of instrumental value that would enable them to perform an important task. On the other hand, females prefer souvenir with sentimental value focusing more on the emotional satisfaction it would offer them. Hugh (2009) concludes that males are likely to buy discounted, low priced souvenirs than females who are less sensitive to prices. Souvenir making has become an economic entity, attracting tourists' direct spending for almost all tourist destinations (Harper, 1981). Shopping is an essential part of the tourism and leisure experience (Sheena, 2006) as every tourist wants to bring home an object from the destination visited. Travelling without shopping for souvenir is regarded a partial activity as the traveller has nothing to prove his/her experience. Shopping for completes the travel experience (Turner & Reisingner, 2001) and complement the role of attractions by preserving tourism experience. Shopping for a souvenir has therefore become a common tourism practice (Nissa, 2009) and almost every tourist shops for souvenirs.
However, it is worth noting that Souvenir shopping is a subsection of tourists shopping; tourists shop for other goods as well. The distinguishing factor between souvenirs and other goods is that souvenirs are related to tourism and travel experience whilst the other goods are not related to tourism. The role of souvenirs is summarized as "look where I have been or look what I have done" (Wicks, 2004:3). As far back as the late 1980s, Gordon (1986), asserted that very few people will take a trip without buying souvenirs to represent a visible summary of the experience and it is still the trend in the 2000s. Souvenirs form a large component of all tourists shopping products (Weng & Tung-Zong, 2012). Whatever the type of tourism (leisure, business), the tourist is likely to take home a souvenir (Follad, 2006). Ming (2011) has the view that shopping for souvenir is an interesting activity which almost all tourists undertake.
Motivations for buying souvenirs include souvenirs as gifts (Kim & Littrell 2001;Gordon 1986) and as a reminder of travel experience (Swanson, 2004). Ward and Tran (2007) posit that souvenirs as gifts are of two categories: self-gifting and gift-giving. Tuomisto (2012) discovered that 71% of tourists to Tampere, Finland bought souvenirs for friends and relatives. Self-gifting involves tourists buying souvenirs for personal use whereas, in gift-giving, souvenirs are used by others. Japanese and Korean tourists deem it a moral right to buy gifts for family, friends and colleagues, especially those who are aware of their travel and/or have made some financial contribution towards the trip (Park, 2000). Souvenirs as gift-giving strengthen the relationship with others and also, serve as a means to appreciate love ones. Souvenirs are mainly for selfuse or for use by other people, especially friends, relatives and colleagues.
Whatever the motivation of buying souvenirs, tourists allocate a significant proportion of their travel expenditure to shopping for gifts and souvenirs (Heung & Cheng, 2000;Ming, 2011). Shopping, of which buying of souvenir is paramount, constitutes over half of the overall travel spending for tourists visiting Hong Kong (Law & Au, 2000). Cai, Lehto and O'leary (2001) reveal that on a scale of preference, Chinese leisure travellers to the USA assign more money to souvenirs than lodging, food and entertainment. Taiwanese tourists in 1999, ranked expenditure on souvenirs second to tobacco and wine (Yoon-Jung, Chia-Kuen, Letho, & O'Leary, 2004). Apichoke (2006) affirms that handicraft products accounted for 30% of tourists' shopping expenses in Thailand.
A study by Malta Tourism Authority (2011) reveals that besides accommodation, tourists spend money mainly on food and shopping (souvenirs and clothing). Shopping constituted 15.1% of tourists' total expenditure of which 6.3% was on souvenirs. Georgian National Tourism Agency, (2011) also found that 17% of tourists' spending is on souvenirs and gifts. A study conducted by Yoon-Jung, (2007) in the USA also revealed that leisure travellers spent the highest amount of money on shopping, followed by those visiting friends and relatives and business travellers. A contrary finding was revealed by Luo and Lu (2011) that business travellers to the Canton Fair in China, spend more on souvenirs than leisure travellers. This contradiction is basically due to geographic differences and both destinations may have different target markets. Furthermore, tourists on honeymoon, also, spend more on souvenirs than other motivation types like sun-sea-sand and hiking among others (Wang & Davidson, 2010). Hugh (2009) is of the view that males are likely to buy discounted, low priced souvenirs than females who are less sensitive to prices. This implies that female spend more on buying souvenirs than males. Tourists with higher level of education spend more on shopping (Yu & Littrell, 2005;Wang & Davidson, 2010) as higher levels of education do commensurate with well-paid jobs.
The spending of consumers, especially tourists, serves as a source of income to producers and vendors of arts and crafts. Research has shown that amount of money spent by tourist has implications on the success and continuity of this sector as it could be an incentive or disincentive to people employed in the art and crafts (Muganda, Sirima, Moshy & Mkumbo, 2012;Henderson, Teck, Ng & Si-Rong, 2009;Mshenga & Owuor, 2009;Ayodele, 2002). However, the pattern of tourists' expenditure on souvenirs in relation to their sociodemographic characteristics has been left out of the picture. Again, research on souvenirs and its' importance to national economies and the tourists is paramount to tourism development (Muganda, Sirima, Moshy & Mkumbo, 2012;Bao, 2006) but the issue in Ghana has not received much attention from tourism academic and tourism regulatory bodies in Ghana.
This study therefore sought to generally examine the expenditure of tourists on arts and crafts in Accra, Ghana. Specifically, the study sought to analyse the socio-demographic characteristics of international tourist to Accra, Ghana; determine the level of tourist expenditure on souvenirs and analyse the relationship between socio-demographic characteristics and expenditure on souvenirs.

Methodology
Inbound tourists were the target population who according to Annku and Lodonu (2012) form majority of consumers of arts and crafts in Ghana; 36% Ghanaians as against 64% non-Ghanaians patronize arts and crafts. With the aid of the Fisher, Laing, Stoeckel and Townsend's (1998) formula, a sample size of 196 tourists was selected. The formula used when the target population is more than 10,000 was adopted since the population of tourists exceeds 10,000. The formula used in calculating the sample size is: = 2 2 Where: n = the desired sample size when the population is more than 10,000 z = the normal standard deviation, usually set at 1.96 which corresponds to 95% confidence level; p = the proportion of the target population that has similar characteristics; q = 1.0 minus 'p' and d = the margin of error which is equal to 0.05 If the z-statistic is equal to 1.96, margin of error (d) equals 0.05% and the proportion of the target population with similar characteristic (p) equals 85% (0.85), then (n) would be: n = (1.96) 2 (0.85) (0.15) 0.05 2 n = 196 The sample size for this study is 196. Data obtained from the GTA (2010) in Accra on tourist arrivals to the metropolis in the month of February was 43,967 (above 10,000). Respondents were sampled using convenience sampling at Arts And Crafts Centre, Kwame Nkrumah Mausoleum and the La Beach all in Accra.
The research adopted the descriptive design and a selfadministered questionnaire was used to collect primary data from respondents. Respondents were approached individually to avoid their responses being influenced by others. Respondents were assured of anonymity and confidentiality after asking for their consent to respond to the research instrument. The data collected were processed using the Statistical Product for Service Solution (SPSS) version 16.0. It was therefore cleaned and analysed using descriptive statistics such as frequencies and percentages. Chi-square test of independence was employed to analyse relationships between socio-demographic characteristics and expenditure pattern a well as travel characteristics and their expenditure pattern.

Socio-demographic characteristics
The study revealed that 61.2% of respondents were females, while 62.8% were between the age range of 21 and 30 years. More than half of the respondents were high school leavers (63.3%) whilst 21.9% had post graduate certificate. It was also noted that half of the respondents (50.0%) earned less than 10,000 dollars annually while 23% of respondents earned ≥ 35, 000 US dollars. With regards to the travel characteristics, more than a quarter of the respondents were in Ghana for volunteerism (28%) and educational purposes (34.2%).

Souvenirs in travel budget
In the Souvenir in travel budget Fig, it shows that more than two-thirds of respondents (84%) had planned to purchase souvenirs during and after their tour in Ghana. Only about 16% did not plan to purchase souvenirs during or after their tour in the country.

Fig 1: Souvenirs in travel budget
The finding is in line with the assertions of Ming (2011), Cai, Letho and O'leary (2001), Heung and Cheng (2000) and Law and Au (2000) that expenditure on souvenirs forms a significant portion of a traveller's budget and that most travellers plan to purchase souvenirs at their destinations.

Expenditure on souvenirs
The expenditure of tourists in this study is a composition of amounts that the international tourists spend on their needs as well as their wants. As souvenirs are used as objects of remembrance, various amounts are allocated to the purchase of variety of souvenirs. It is therefore noted in the Expenditure on souvenirs table (Table 1) that slightly above half (51.0%) of the respondents spent less than a GH¢100 (less than US$ 22.2) on souvenirs whereas 20.4% spent between GH¢101 (US$ 22.4) and GH¢200 (US$ 44.4) on souvenirs. However, less than a quarter (15.3%, 13.3%) of respondent spent GH¢201 (US$ 44.6) to GH¢300 (US$ 66.6) and GH¢ ≥ 301 (US$ 66.8) respectively. On average however, international tourists in Accra spend about GH¢207 (US$ 46) on souvenirs To determine expenditure on souvenir by social groupings, a cross tabulation was used. In addition, a chi square test was performed to determine whether there is a significant relationship between various social groupings and the amount spent on souvenirs and also, to find out whether there exist any relationship between travel characteristics and the expenditure on souvenirs. It was realised from the Expenditure on souvenirs by socio-demographic/travel characteristics table, (Table 2), that slightly above half (53.1%) of male tourists spent less than GH¢100 (US$ 22.2) on souvenirs while 20.3% spent more than GH¢300 on souvenirs.
On the other hand, more than a third of female tourists spent less than GH¢ 100 on souvenirs whereas about 11 per cent spent more than GH¢300 on souvenirs. More male tourists (20.3%) spent more on souvenirs than their female counterparts (11%).
With reference to age, tourists aged 30 and above spent more on souvenirs. A third of this category spent more than GH¢300 on souvenirs. Less than a quarter of the other age categories spent GH¢300 and above on souvenirs. In terms of education, less than a quarter of respondents within each category; high school (20.8%), degree (15.7%) and postgraduate (6.2%) qualification spent more than GH¢300 on souvenirs. It was also revealed in the table that almost a quarter (21.6%) of the respondents earning above US$35,000 spent more than GH¢300 on souvenirs.
Given the p-values at 0.05 significance levels, there was a statistically significant relationship determined between the expenditure of tourists on souvenirs and the sociodemographic characteristics of respondents, which are sex (p=0.006), age (p=0.028), education (p=0.005) and annual income (p=0.006) and their expenditure on souvenirs.
Hypothesis 1: The chi-square test revealed that there was a statistically significant relationship between the sociodemographic characteristics (sex, age, education, income) and expenditure on souvenirs as shown in Table 2.
3.5 Expenditure on souvenirs by travel characteristics As noted in Expenditure on souvenirs by travel characteristics (Table 3), a quarter of the leisure travellers spent more than GH¢300 on souvenirs whilst 50% spent less than 100 on souvenirs. Less than quarter of tourist visiting friends and relatives (13.3%), volunteers (13.6%), business travellers (7.1%) and those for educational purposes (15.8%) spent more than 300 on souvenirs. In terms of frequency of visit 21.6% of repeat visitors spent more than GH¢300 on souvenirs and more than half of first time visitors spent less than GH¢100 on souvenirs. Tourists were interested in souvenirs. Less than a quarter of tourists who were involved in this study had not planned to buy souvenirs and consequently did not make any allocation for it in their travel budget. It can then be, assumed that these respondents were impulse buyers since the purchase of souvenirs was impulsive. On average, souvenirs constituted about 15.3% of the tourists' expenditure and this is less than the allocation by tourists as revealed by the Georgian National Tourism Agency (2011) but more than expenditure as reported by the Malta Tourism Authority (2011).
About half (51.0%) of the tourists spent less than a GH¢100 on souvenirs and this may be attributed to the occupation distribution of respondents since students formed more than half of the respondents (60.7%). Students rely mainly on part time jobs whilst some are even not working and as such, earn a meagre income. This restrict their expenditure especially on luxury items as souvenirs. In spite of this, the average spending of respondents on souvenirs was relatively high GH¢ 207.
It is interesting to note that few male tourists (20.3%) spent more money in purchasing souvenirs. In the same way, a smaller percentage of their female counterpart (11.0%) spent more money on souvenirs. This finding contradicts the assertion by Bao (2005) and Turner and Reisinger (2001) that female tourists spend more money on shopping for souvenirs than male tourists. With reference to age, respondents aged 30 and above spent more on souvenirs; a third of this category (33.3%) spent more than GH¢300 on souvenirs. This may be due to the fact that respondents above 30 years were likely to be gainfully employed and thus are more likely to have higher discretionary money at their disposal since income earned is likely to have a relationship with spending on souvenirs.
A higher proportion of the tourists who had high school qualification (20.8%) spent more than GH¢300 on souvenirs than tourists with degree (15.7%) and post graduate level (6.2%). This is contrary to the finding of Wang and Davidson (2010) and Yu and Littrell (2005) that tourists with higher levels of education spend more on shopping as the study reflects otherwise, with the least educated tourists, spending more money on the purchase of souvenirs.
Respondents with higher income were expected to spend more on souvenirs and this is reflected by the current study as almost a quarter (21.6%) of the respondents earning above US$35,000 per year spent more than GH¢300 on souvenirs. The findings also revealed a significant relationship between socio-demographic characteristics (sex, age, education and annual income) of tourists and their expenditure on souvenirs.
With reference to the purpose of visit, leisure travellers spent more on souvenirs than business travellers and this is in line with the study by Yoon-Jung (2007) that leisure travellers spend the highest amount of money on shopping. These findings, however, contradict the findings of Luo and Lu (2011) that business travellers spend more on souvenirs than leisure travellers. This contradiction may be affected by the attraction within the area that attraction is found since that of Luo and Lu was a fair and business travellers would have been the main market for this product.

Conclusion
Shopping for souvenirs is an activity that tourist in Accra, Ghana do undertake. Souvenirs purchased translates into income for Ghanaians as well as a source of employment. The expenditure of tourist on souvenirs in Ghana implies that the souvenir business is a venture worth investing into as it has a capacity to attract relatively high tourists spending. Therefore institutions that are responsible for promoting arts and crafts that are usually used as souvenirs, such as Centre for National Culture and Ghana Tourism Authority should actively aim at packaging and promoting the Ghanaian arts and crafts to increase interest in arts and craft and also increase sales of souvenirs. Leisure travellers spent more on souvenirs than other travellers such as business travellers though business travellers are described in the tourism literature as price insensitive. This suggests the need to establish a connection between business travellers and the souvenir items either by establishing outlets in business facilities or directing promotional activities towards business travellers.
More also, first time visitors spent less on souvenirs and may be due to inadequate information on arts and crafts in Ghana or difficulty in assessing arts and crafts outlets/centres. Steps need to be taken to promote this business and make it more viable and accessible to all. In addition sex, age, level of education and annual income have a significant relationship with expenditure on souvenirs. This shows that the social grouping in which a tourist is, be it, age, sex among others may have an influence on the likelihood of purchasing souvenirs during and after touring destination. It can be established that the higher the education level of tourists to Accra, the less likely it is to spend high on souvenirs. Further studies can, however, be conducted to determine the magnitude and direction of the relationship in order to provide a deeper meaning of the relationship that exist between sociodemographic characteristics and expenditure on souvenirs.