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Tourist merchandise' as a means of generating local benefits fromecotourismRobert G. Healyaa School of the Environment, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA

To cite this Article Healy, Robert G.(1994) 'Tourist merchandise' as a means of generating local benefits from ecotourism',Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 2: 3, 137 151

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Tourist Merchandise' as a Means ofGenerating Local Benefits from EcotourismRobert G. HealySchool of the Environment, Duke University, Durham , NC 27707, USALong term protection of national parks and nature reserves is very difficult unlesseconomic benefits can be secured for local peo ple. Ecotourism offers a possib le incomesource, provided that there is a me ans of local reven ue capture from the visitors. Th isarticle examines the sale of handicrafts and other 'tourist merchandise' as a possiblem eans of gen erating local bene fits. The article considers issues of supp ly and dem and ,new product development, marketing, and the sustainability of supply of materialsused as inp uts . It concludes that strong possibilities exist for ma rket dev elopm ent andcreation of new, sustainable, culturally acceptable products. Of particular interest areactive linki ng of tourist mercha ndise p roduc tion to agricultural or forestry projects tha tprov ide a sustain able su pp ly of inp uts, use of 'craft as perform ance' to prom ote pro duc tsale, and d evelop me nt of produ cts that educate tourists about park resources and localcultures.Introduction

As mo re national park s, nature reserves, and other protected na tural areas areestablished around the world, both new and existing areas have come underincreasing p ressure from the growth of hum an po pulation and economic activi-ties. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature estimated that in1990 there were 6,931 fully or partially protected natural areas worldwide,aggregating some 651 million hectares (World Resources Institute, 1992).In man y developing coun tries, large num bers of rural people live aroun d oreven inside park b oun daries. A key consideration in reserve man agem ent, there-fore, is ho w to give local residents an economic incentive to help m aintain theresources which the parks protect. In many cases, the creation of parks andreserves initially hurts local people by cutting them off from opportunities tohunt, gather forest products, or clear new agricultural land (for a well-docu me nted case study, see Shyam sundar, 1993). A recent study, based on m orethan tw enty case examples wo rldwide, observes that 'An emerging view a mo ngconservationists is that the successful m anag em ent of protected areas (PAs) mu stinclude the cooperation an d support of local peo ple. Excluding people wh o liveadjacent to PAs from use of these resources, without providing them withalterna tives, is increasingly view ed as politically infeasible an d ethically unjusti-fiable' (Brandon & W ells, 1992).

Many parks and reserves are experiencing substantial increases in tourism,much of which comes from high-income countries or from affluent domesticurban populatio ns. Often this sort of tourism is called 'ecotourism ', a w ord thatdescribes both the motivation of tourists (to visit natural ecosystems) and theexpected conservation benefits to be h ad from it (Boo, 1990; W helan , 1991). Yetthere is growing concern that little of the revenue from ecotourism reaches localpeople. The report from the World Parks Congress, a major international m eeting0966 -9582 /94/03 0137-15 $1.80/0 1994 R.G. Hea lyJOUR NA L OF SUSTAINABLE TOURISM Vol. 2, N o. 3,1994

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138 Journal of Sustainable Tourismof environmentalists and park m anagers held in Caracas in 1992, no ted that 'Inorder to com pensate local peo ple for the loss of use of nearby resou rces, and toobtain their collaboration in protecting parks, a larger proportion of tourismreven ues should be recycled locally' (Munasinghe, 1992). Participants at a 1993sym posium on ecotourism and local com mu nities, spon sored by the RockefellerFoun datio n in Bellagio, Italy, found it almo st impossible to cite specific parks orreserves where tourism had produced local economic benefits.In practice, the options for local capture of tourist rev enu e are relatively few:entrance fees or tourist taxes can be distributed to local gov ernm ents or com mu-nity organisations; local people can operate or be employed in establishmentspro vid ing lodging , food, or services to the tourists; or local people can sell thetourists souven irs, crafts, or other merch andise. To date, no ne of these revenu e-cap ture op tions has been adequately docum ented. Lindberg (1990) and W estern(1982) have u nd ertak en some analysis of fee-sharing systems. There is a largeliterature on tourism and emp loym ent creation in the lodg ing and tourist servicesector, but only a few studies involving Third World rural areas impacted byna ture tourism (e.g. Place, 1991; Healy, 1988; Boo, 1990.) Wells & Brandon (1992)offer a num ber of case studies of park-related co mm unities, bu t little data on h owthey hav e benefited economically (or failed to benefit) from tourism .

The least-explored option for revenue-capture is through sale of what mightbe term ed 'tourist m ercha ndise ', that is, tangible produ cts sold directly to tour-ists. This article is an investigation of the possibilities for using sales of touristmerchandise as a means of supp orting local economic deve lopm ent, particularlyin areas adjoining p arks a nd na ture reserves in developing co untries.The Demand for Handicrafts a nd Other Tourist Merchandise

Tou rist interest in on-site purchases of goods can too easily be dismissed as'souvenir hunting'. In one view, tourist purchases are associated with massprod uce d, low-quality articles that borrow (and sometimes even mock) cu lturalthemes and which are purchased by the tourist with the intent of providing aperso nal m em ento of the visit. However, closer exam ination of tourist p urch asesreveals a m uch mo re complex picture, both in types of goods purchased and inthe tourist 's m otivation for buying them. (For general backgro und, and typolo-gies of prod ucts and b uye r motivations, with an emph asis on artistic items soldto tourists, see interalia Graburn , 1976; Cohen, 1993.)Tourist merchandise is defined here as 'any tangible item purchased bytourists at a destination and intended to be transported subsequently off-site'.This definition does not include on-site food and lodging , or intangible services,such as gu ide an d transportation services. Tourist merchan dise does include: (1)N atu ral pro ducts, including nuts , shells, rocks, and unprocessed foodstuffs (fruit,raw coconuts); (2) Handicrafts, defined as goods that are hand-made or madewith the use of simple tools or equipment and that incorporate a substantialelement of craft skill; (3) Othe r han d-m ade items, including artisanal processedfoodstuffs (coffee beans, honey , sugar cane juice, vanilla); (4) Local m anufactures,such as beer, furniture and other factory-made items; or (5) Non-local goodsretailed at tourist sites, including film, postcards, guidebooks, T-shirts, andsporting equipment.

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Tourist Merchandise 139In addition to on-site sales to tourists, merchand ise produced at tourist desti-nations m ay hav e substan tial sales poten tial elsewhere. For exam ple, handicraftsproduced in rural areas are often sold in urban markets, at capital city hotelsfrequented by tourists, at cruise ship docks and in airports. They may also beexported.Looking at motivation for tourist purchases, it is obvious that some touristmerchandise is bought as a souvenirs. However, remembrance is only one ofseveral possible functions of go ods p urchased by tourists. Littrell (1990) identi-fied five clusters of motivations . Some purchase rs' motivations were associatedw ith only a single cluster; others were multidimensiona l. The clusters inc luded :shopping oriented tourists (for whom the process of acquisition is important);authen ticity seeking tourists; special trip tou rists; apparel oriented tourists; andtourists wh o simply valued the 'intrinsic be au ty' of the item.Research by Keown (1989) on purch ases by Japanese tourists in Hawa ii found

ano ther motivation for tourist purchases their cost relative to the cost of similarmerchan dise available in the tourist 's home country. Althoug h tourist m erchan-dise offered in rural areas of developing countries may be quite different inma terials and appearance from good s available to the tourist at home, there m aybe many parallels in terms of function (e.g. articles of clothing; tableware; deco-rative items). The lower cost an d /o r h igher quality of the developing countryitem m ay induce a sale even w here souvenir or authenticity value is minimal.Tourist buying preferences are likely to vary with such characteristics of theindividual tourist as income, age, education, sex, past travel experience andnationality, as well as with the reason for visiting the destination area (e.g.cultural tourism vs. outdo or recreation). Littrell, Ande rson & Brown (1993) foundevidence suggesting that tourists interested in active outdoor recreation weremo re likely than other tourists to attribute authenticity to crafts that were usableitems not available in their home communities. Other groups of tourists weremore likely to attribute authenticity to items exhibiting traditional colours andna tura l materials. They also found tha t 'wh ile you nge r tourists associate auth en-ticity with unique and original items, these qualities declined in importanceamong tourists over age 60'. Older tourists were mo re likely to associate au then-ticity with 'the cultural or historic integrity a nd the genu ineness of a craft'.

Even tho ug h the value of individu al transactions is small, total sales of touristme rchandise are sometimes quite significant, ev en at the national level. W aters(1991) observed , for exam ple, that between 1979 and 1988, sales of tourist com -modities brought China $4 billion, making up 35% of the country's touristincome. In Guatemala, a survey taken by the National Tourism Institute(INGUAT) indicated that the average tourist arriving by air purchased $82 inhand icrafts (Rose, 1988). There are even a few tours organised specifically for th eappreciation an d purch ase of Third World crafts, and som e of them inc lude visitsto national parks for wildlife viewing.Some interesting evidence on the tastes and mo tivations of tourists is prov idedby consumer research surveys conducted in several countries which are majorsources of international travellers (US Travel and T ourism A dm inistration, 1988 -90). 'Shopping' was among the tourist activities most frequently engaged in bylong-distance, international tourists, being reported by m ore tha n 85% of travel-



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740 Journal of Sustainable Tourismlers in the countries surveyed . An interest in 'local crafts' and in 'un iqu e c ulturalgroups' was reported with some frequency, although it was by no means top-ranked.Soph isticated analytic techniques were used in these market research stud iesto group tourists according to desired 'product segments'. Among them were'cultu re and n atu re travellers', who accou nted for betw een 16% (France) and 23%(Japan) of potential tourists. The identified product segments differed amongcountries, bu t there w as frequently a mix ture of interest in natu ral features an dcultural features, and both were generally associated with an interest in localcrafts a nd u nique cultural gro up s. These data sug gest that ecotourists are poten-tial handicraft consumers, and that people interested in cultural heritage (andpres um ably in cultural artifacts) are poten tial visitors to natura l areas.Supply of Tourist Merchand ise

It is very difficult to generalise abou t the origins of merchan dise so ld to tourists(see Connelly-Kirch, 1982 and W agner, 1982). Handicrafts, for example, may bem ad e und er conditions ranging from individual producers wo rking in their ownhomes, to cooperative village workshops, to large urban factories such as arefound in parts of India's hand-knotted rug indu stry. Some prod ucts, particularlythose requiring high degrees of skill or those best made in large batches, arepro du ced only by specialists. Others, such as simple jewellery and wo ven b race-lets, can be m ad e by almost anyone, even small children. Some produ cts are m adealmost casually, in spare m om ents between o ther activities or while sitting in themarketplace aw aiting a customer. Althoug h craft prod uction and food process-ing are very often don e by wom en, there are man y tourist items where p rod uc-tion is exclusively a male occupation (much African wood carving, for exam ple).In general, inexpensive items requiring large am ounts of han d labour inpu tare necessarily m ad e by the poor. Because entry into the business is usually easyand products are standardised, severe price competition tends to hold returnsdo w n to the low est possible level (see W agner, 1982 for an excellent case stu dyof mark et com petition). But a few producers of tourist merch andise recognisedartists, for example, or those who have particularly good marketing outlets make quite a goo d living from it, at least by local standa rds . One can also poin tto entire communities, such as Taxco, Mexico; Monimbo, Nicaragua; Sarchi,Costa Rica; and Otavalo, Ecuad or, whose overall pros perity clearly rests on thesale of tourist m erchan dise.Perhaps the best generalisation is simply to state that there is enormouspotential variation in tourist merchandise production, depen ding on the natureof the pro du ct and , in some cases, on local custom and tradition. But unlike m anytypes of livelihood, there is ample op portunity for participation by the poo r, therura l, the landless, and those lacking formal education. The challenge is to findproducts, production systems, and marketing strategies that allow producersoperating in or near a national park or nature reserve to make an income fromsales to tourists that is both adeq uate an d sustainable.Home- and village-based production systems

Most handicrafts are products of home- and village-based production



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142 Journal of Sustainable TourismHow tourist merchandise is sold

Merchandise is sold to tourists in several ways. Perhaps the most comm on is theofficial or unofficial m arketplace, where multiple sellers gather to place their waresbefore the tourist. These are often located near the entrance to attractions, in thenearest village, along roads , or at transportation foci such as bus stations or cruiseship docks. Tourist merchandise is also sold in shops, including general merchandisestores, cooperatives, hotel or museu m gift shops and privately ow ned shops sellinga full line of touris t goods or specialising in selected items (e.g. jewellery, art objects).Tourist merchandise is sometimes sold at the w orkshop where it is manufactured,as in the m etalworkers' bazaars of the M iddle East.M arketing may consum e as mu ch time and effort as does the actual manufac-ture of the tourist merchandise. Indeed, Wagner's (1982) study of dyed-clothsellers in The Gam bia found that selling a piece of cloth required on averagefifteentimes as many hours as did its preparation. The method by which tourist mer-chandise is m arketed helps determine bo th how m uch em ploym ent is generatedand ho w the revenues are distributed w ithin the comm unity. A situation in whichthere are many sellers, each with an equal chance to 'catch' a tourist, means alarge num be r of jobs and a relatively low re turn to each seller. Domination by afew shops means fewer jobs and higher returns, enjoyed mainly by a smallnu m ber of shop ow ners and , perha ps, their employees. Dom ination of sales bypa rk m ana gem ent or concessionaries offers the possibility of highe r net reve nues(by extracting monopoly profits from the tourists) and direction of those reve-nues to purposes chosen by the park.Intra-community relations

N ot all mem bers of a given com mu nity have the skill or inclination to m akehandicrafts or other tourist merchandise; some community members mayalready ha ve m ore lucrative oppo rtunities. How ever, creation of a new tourist-based indus try can change economic relationships. For example, persons withun usu al skills may earn disproportionately h igh returns. Persons with the requi-site manage m ent skills (and language ability) may become traders and m iddle-men, selling crafts made by others. Where cooperatives or craft promotionprojects are created, one or m ore salaried m anagers m ay be employed.Alth oug h this inequality can hav e negative effects, it also has positive aspects.Even in trad itional, non-tourist areas, there frequently is a history of inequalityof income, assets and opportunities (see Hill, 1986). Revenue from producingtourist m erchan dise, along with othe r tourist-based income, can greatly modifythe tradition al local hierarchy. In one Brazilian comm unity, for exam ple, grow thof tourism overturned the dominance of local palm grove planters, and 'thechildren of traditional powerholders are migrating to cities' (Robben, 1982).Furtherm ore, developm ent of tourist merchandise enterprises can contribute tochanges in social position for the craftsperson, even aside from income cha nges.Franko wski-Braganza (1983) repo rts that in tw o west Mexican tow ns, potters ha da po or self image, ha d low status in the com munity, and we re ignored or criticisedby local youth. As foreign tou rists come to purch ase their w ares, they 'receive awelcome change in self image from the tourists, wh o regard them as "p rimitive"artists and no t as m anu al laborers'.

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Tourist Merchandise 14 3Issues in Production of Tourist MerchandiseInnovation and 'authenticity'

'Belief in their authenticity', writes Ichaporia (1980: 47) 'lends tremendousweight and value to objects'. Knowledge that an object is handmade is animp ortant ingredient in establishing its authenticity 'things ma de by h an d are"gen uine"; mass-produ ced comm odities are in the realm of the "plastic", a w ordconnoting flimsiness, superficiality, flashiness, artificiality, whether in conceptor m ateria l' (Ichaporia, 1980:45).Cohen (1988) observes that cu ltural pro ducts, such as handicrafts, which areat first considered contrived or unauthentic, may over time become recognisedas authen tic. H e refers to this process as 'emergent au thenticity', and notes thatsuch prod ucts m ay eventually be accepted as authentic even by experts. Am ongthe products cited by Cohen are Eskimo soapstone carvings, Haida argillitecarvings, and figurative embroideries made by Hmong refugees from Laos.Grab urn (1976) provide s a useful typology of types of tourist arts, rang ing fromthose originally pro duced for local consum ption to arts incorporating (and oftentransforming) non-indigenous artistic traditions and intended to be sold tovisitors.In general, product innovation can take three forms. First, products indige-nous to a society can be adapted to better suit tourist needs and preferences;second, a comm unity can adop t produ cts m ade in other regions or even in othercoun tries and p rod uce them locally as 'nativ e' arts; and third, craftspeople maycreate entirely new pro du cts. All three of these m etho ds hav e been used success-fully by handicraft makers in developing and developed nations (Institute ofSocial Studies Trust, 1987; Ryerson, 1976; and E. Graham, 1991).Ma rketing tourist merc hand ise

The marketing function includes identification of what potential customersmight w ant, prod uct d evelopmen t, pricing, prom otion and d istribution. Market-ing specialists assert that marketing works best when it is regarded not merelyas the selling of a product bu t as the integration of all of these elements, drivenby an un derstan ding of how prod ucts satisfy c ons um ers' w ants. In many cases,traditional handicrafts are not ideal for the tourist market. For examp le, textilesm ay be too large or too brightly coloured . There also may be significant differ-ences in merchan dise dem and am ong tourists of different nationalities.The typical way in which makers and sellers of tourists goo ds determ ine w hattourists wan t is through the market some good s sell and others don 't. Somerudim entary market research, how ever, might make this trial-and-error processmuch more effective. For example, simple survey instruments and checklistscould be devised throug h which makers and prom oters of tourist merchan disecan obtain information from tourists about their preferences.Althoug h it is important to determ ine w ha t tourists might like to bu y, it is alsouseful to educate the tourist about local products and design traditions. This isparticularly imp ortant in a national park or natu re reserve setting, wh ere m ar-keting efforts can educate tourists about the relationship that particular craftshave to park protection and sustainable development. 'Alternative Trading

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144 Journal of Sustainable TourismOrga nisations ' such as SERRV, Pueblo to People, and SelfHelp Crafts (a projectof the Menno nite Central Comm ittee) hav e found that retail customers in the USare attracted by the belief that their Third World imports are produced undercircumstances that benefit the produ cer an d the environment, and they em pha-sise that aspect in mail order catalogues and other sales literature. A staff mem berat SERRV, which markets Third World crafts through churches, observes that'[our customers] bu y because of why w e bu y and w ho w e bu y from. They kno wthat the profits go back to the p rod ucer' (Fogle, 1992). Although ecotourists areunlikely to buy a produc t that does not attract them in other w ays, the kn ow ledgethat a given craft or souvenir benefits a pa rk or a neighbou ring com munity maymak e them m ore likely to bu y from a park-app roved outlet or to pay som ewh atm ore than the prevailing price.

Consumer education can also help reduce consumer demand for souvenirsmade from endangered species. TRAFFIC (USA) an affiliate of World WildlifeFund, produces attractive educational brochures giving general guidance totourists regarding such merchandise. Where wildlife souvenirs are a problem,park visitor centres should provide targeted displays and consumer literature.Ideally, tourists should be shown that there are alternatives to environmentallydestructive purchases (e.g. substitution of other tropical ha rdw oo ds for those inshort sup ply). Tour operators should also be encouraged to distribute pam phletsand educate travellers. A recent book (S. Graham, 1991) on 'responsible tourism 'no t only warns ab out endan gered species souvenirs bu t gives some useful adviceon ho w tourists can orient their purchases to maximise the positive local impacts.A final aspect of marketing might be termed 'non -tourist/po st-tourist ' sales.Althoug h the emphasis in this article has been on development and marke tingof merchandise that is sold on site to tourists, many such items also havepossibilities in the national tourist market (e.g. sales in urban pub lic markets andhotel gift stores) and as export products. Promoters of tourist merchandisesho uld b e alert to possibilities for placing merchandise in alternative outlets an d,w here dem and w arrants it, letting tourists know w here they can bu y items aftertheir v isit.

Non-craft tourist merchandiseAlthou gh handicrafts are und oub tedly the most obvious type of m erchandisepurchas ed by tourists, they are by n o means the only potential products. Fooditems also offer possibilities. In Costa Rica, tourists visiting the MonteverdeClo ud Forest Reserve buy significant q uan tities of cheese from the local coop era-tively own ed factory. At the same site, a farm family supplem ents its income byselling 'trail mix' to tourists. The product combines nuts and raisins purchasedin San Jose with bananas produced and dried in Monteverde (Healy, 1988).Honey and 'natural' chewing gum made from chicle (a tropical sap) might alsobe popular.Food items can be sold to tourists for on-site consum ption, as well as servingas low-cost souven irs. They can also be distributed in tourist-originating coun-tries as promotional materials by tour operators and NGOs. In some cases,comm ercial export m arkets can be created, with the sale to tourists serving b othto bolster sales and to create future export custom ers. Custom er loyalty may b e



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Tourist Merchandise 145particularly strong wh ere the product is understood b y the tourist-consum er tobe pa rt of a sustainable dev elopm ent project.Another po tential prod uc t is educational materials concerning the site. Theseinclude b ook s, pam phlets, m aps, videos, recordings, bird lists, posters, po stcards,and wildlife p ho tographs. These articles are generally pro duced off-site, so the reis little profit for local people except for the retail margin. In a few cases,pro du ction of such items offers a source of income to one or tw o highly skilledpersons for example a biologist may write a guide to the site's fauna or aphotographer may sell high quality prints. Sale of these products is clearlyworthwhile from an educational and promotional standpoint, and they oftencontribute greatly to the tourist's enjoyment of the experience. Books, trail mapsand bird lists ma y also have the adv antage of inducing tourists to remain longerat a given site, by increasing their awareness of possible things to see and do .

Nature tourists are also likely to be interested in educational materials thatdeal with the culture of the areas they visit. Elder (1983) offers a long list oftourism p rod uc ts that migh t be deve loped from the rich folklore of the Caribbean.They include 'anthologies of folk poetry, cassettes of recorded speech, broad-sheets of folk tales, photographs and slides of tale-tellers, video-tapes of tale-telling sessions, costumes and "tools" of folk dramatists, painting(s) of folk-lore. . .figures'. He also finds possibilities for produ ct d evelop ment in folk medi-cine and folk m usic.T-shirts A specia l cas e

Am ong the most ubiquitous of souvenir items are T-shirts. Many pa rks andreserves have logo-adorned T-shirts; so do nearly all organised environmentalgroups. T-shirts and related decorated clothing items have several purposes.They create a sense of organisational identification for employees an d volunteers.Furtherm ore, because they are almost standard garb for tourists, they can serveas a very effective adve rtising m edium. It is very common to see mem bers of atour group wearing clothing items embossed with designs or logos of touroperators or previously visited destinations.Inexpensive and easily packed, T-shirts make excellent items for tourists topurchas e. The head of a souvenir industry trade gro up says that T-shirts are 'byfar the Number 1 tourist souvenir item' (Borowsky, 1992). From the seller'sstandpoint, however, T-shirts are less than ideal merchandise. The major prob-lem is their relatively low local labour content. T-shirts are typically m ade in massquantities in autom ated knitting mills. When purchased in bulk, a good qualityun adorn ed shirt has a wholesale cost of US$3-4. Even at that price, it is economi-cally infeasible for most local retailers to buy blank shirts and print their ownlogos or design s on them , since the necessary mach inery is very expen sive. Unlessthe anticipated quantity to be sold is quite high (more than several hundredyearly) it may b e best to contract for high quality printed shirts, preferably froma domestic supplier.Even tho ugh they may not be prod uced locally, how ever, T-shirts can bringin significant tourist revenues, especially if park and reserve managers are ableto take advan tage of T-shirt pop ularity to charge highe r prices, incorpo rating anexplicit 'don ation for suppo rt of the reserve'.

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746 Journal of Sustainable TourismSustainability

Because tourist goods are generally made, in whole or in part, from locallyobtained materials, it is necessary to consider the sustainability of materialsupplies.Am ong the least sustainable are produ cts w hose manufacture involves use ofendang ered species of fauna or flora (see M athieson & W all, 1982). These includeturtle p rod uct s, skins and pe lts, stuffed animals, feathers, and ivory. They alsoinclude fossils and antiquities sold in contravention of local laws, and endan-gered anim als sold live as pets (e.g. psittacine birds ). Althoug h local laws m ayprohibit trade in endangered species, and the Convention on International T radein Endangered Species prohibits or regulates their importation into other coun-tries, they are still offered for sale to tourists in many places. In Mexico, forexample, it is reported that available tourist goods include tortoise shell jewel-lery, jaguar a nd ocelot skin produ cts, stuffed caimans, iguanas , bird s, and turtles,an d live parrots all illegal for US tourists to im port (TRAFFIC, 1989).Other products might be termed 'potentially unsustainable' productswh ose inp uts are now relatively abun dant b ut w hich cannot sustain significantexpansion. Many tropical wood products are in this category, at least undercurrent forest management practices. In some cases the shortage of a particularraw m aterial can be directly traced to increased p roductio n of a specific to uristproduct. For example, in the Mexican state of Guerrero, local people beganarou nd 1959 to paint designs formerly used on pottery onto pape r m ade fromthe bark of the amate (wild fig) tree (Stromberg, 1976). The product becamewild ly successful an d soon threatened extermination of the trees from wh ich thebark was stripped.Producers can be rather innovative in finding substitute materials whensupplies of traditional ones begin to dry u p . In Thailand, for exam ple, wh ere teakhas becom e difficult to procure, makers of jewellery boxes, picture frames andcarved products have substituted other, cheaper, types of rain forest wood,although they are often still sold by dealers as 'teak'. Now even the substitutespecies are becom ing limited in supp ly and are brough t from great distances. Insimilar fashion, scarcity of rattan in the Philippines a nd Thailand h as increaseduse of bamboo for som e craft items.A third category of products are those utilising abundant materials that cansustain significant expansion, for example gourds, bamboo, and cotton cloth.Po ttery prod ucts are a staple of Third W orld tourist crafts and are almost alwaysbased on abu nda nt local clays (although sometimes the w ood or charcoal usedfor firing them ha s become scarce). Salable prod ucts can also be m ade from wa stematerials, such as corn stalks and coconut husks. In Feni, Bangladesh, forexample, a project initiated by SelfHelp Crafts employs over 60 persons inm aking w riting and w rapp ing pap er from jute residues.At the most positive end of the sustainability spec trum are prod ucts that mightbe termed 'actively sustainable' products that use materials prod uced as partof independent sustainable use projects. For example, an existing Hondurancashew project and a propo sed Belize chicle-based chewing gum project not on lyresult in income for processors and retailers but can also create a profitableenterprise for farmers w ho supply the raw m aterials. These produ cts w ould also



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Tourist Merchandise 14 7ha ve the ecologically beneficial side-effect of keepin g tree cover on the la nd .Another important issue of sustainability is the geographic source of thematerial. Park m anagers m ust decide whether certain m aterials shou ld be h ar-vested with in the entire park or only in designated areas or buffer zone s. In som ecases, materials for tourist merchandise can be cultivated under monoculturalplantation conditions or through agroforestry or polyculture. In this case, pro-duction m ight best take place in village areas, wh ether inside or outsid e formalpa rk bound aries. H ow ever, it may be difficult to identify ma terials that are thu scultivated from similar 'wild' materials extracted illegally from the pa rk p rop er.Production activities as a tourist a ttraction

The productio n of tourist m erchandise can itself be of great interest to tourists.M any tourists like the idea of being perm itted to look l^ackstage' in the societythey visit, seeing how peop le live their daily lives and perform their economicactivities. This intimate glimpse of another culture may be au thentic or may becarefully controlled a sort of false backstage carefully designed for the tou rist'sbenefit (see MacCannell, 1973). In either case, the pleasure gained by th e touris tin seeing an object produced can add significantly to its perceived value andhence to the price the tourist is willing to pay.It is not uncommon for crafts producers to make their goods in view ofpotential customers. Where the product can be mad e in a marketplace (weaving,basketry) sellers often try to utilise productively the time spe nt w aiting for thenext custom er. Because tourists are often fascinated by how unfamiliar things aremade, public production can also be a marketing tool. In North America andEurope, public demonstration of craft production is formally incorporated intoopen air m useum s, living historical farms, and 'ecomu seum s', m any of whichsell craft pro ducts in addition to charging adm ission fees. How ever, this type offacility is m uch less comm on in develop ing coun tries (see Stan ton, 1977).The process of food production is often of great interest to tourists. Thegrow ing of rice, for example, is a novelty for m any tourists, w ho w ou ld be eagerto learn mo re about both ho w the plants are cultivated an d ho w the harvest isprocessed . Such tropical crops as coffee and cacao lend themselves w ell to touristobservation and the product is well suited for sale to tourists as a reminder ofw hat they have seen.In the tropics, there ap pear to be significant possibilities for combining tourismwith the management of 'extractive reserves' that is, with the sustainableharvest of non-timber forest produ cts, such as rubber an d natu ral chewing g um .On e form of extractive activity that is likely to ha ve particular appeal to v isitorsto tropical forests is the harvesting of medicinal plants. Nature walks thatemphasise local uses of plants are frequently offered at jungle lodges in m anytropical park s. In western Belize, the Pan ti Trail is a privately operated touristdestination, wh ere visitors can take a guided forest w alk on a trail laid ou t w ithadvice from an 86 year old Mayan 'bush doctor'. In addition to charging foradm ission a nd guid ed tou rs, the enterprise sells one-ounce packages of Belizeanelixirs made from local plants, ranging from Bellyache Tea to Party Punch(Mahler, 1992).Altho ugh m any tourists are content to be spectators, there are some wh o crave



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Tourist Merchandise 149community benefit more than others from tourist merchandise sales. Park andreserve managers can avoid or mitigate at least some of these problems byexplicitly incorporating tourist merchandise in site management plans, provid-ing appropriate vending sites (including park-operated shops), encouragingtraining and other incentives for tourist merchandise producers, and encourag-ing local development projects that provide sustainable supplies of the materialsused in making tourist merchandise.Acknowledgements

The author gratefully acknowledges the research assistance of Dorothy Zbicz,the helpful comments of Gustavo Arcia (Research Triangle Institute), WilliamAscher (Duke University), Robertson Collins (Tourism Development/HeritageConservation Ltd., Singapore), Julie Johnson (Duke University), Jan Laarman(North Carolina State University), Toddi Steelman (Duke University), andanonymous reviewers for this journal and the comments and editorial assistanceof Erika Nystrom. This work was supported by the US Agency for InternationalDevelopment through the Duke University Center for Tropical Conservation.Note1. One must of course look closely at any production opportunity that involves childlabour. For poor families, itseems likely that the potential forexploitation or for schoolabsence or drop-out because of handicraft work will be more than offset by theimprovement in child nutrition and health afforded by handicraft income and thegreater potential for pay ing cash expenses (tuition, uniforms) associated with schoolattendance.ReferencesAnnis, Sheldon (1987) God andProduction in a Guatemalan Town. Austin: University ofTexas Press.Boo, Elizabeth (1990) Ecotourism: ThePotentials andPitfalls.Washington, DC: WorldWildlife Fund.Borowsky, Scott (1992) President of Souvenir and Novelty Trade Association, UpperDarby, Pennsylvan ia. Telephone interview with Robert Healy, Augu st 5.Brandon, Katrina Eadie andW ells, Michael (1992) Planning forpeople andparks : Designdilemmas. World Development 20(4), 557-70.Cohen, Erik (1988) Authenticity and commoditization in tourism. Annals of TourismResearch 15, 371-86._____ (1993) Introduction: Investigating tourist arts. AnnalsofTourism Research (Special Issueon T ourist Arts) 20(1), 1-8.Connelly-Kirch, Debra (1982) Economic and social correlates of handicraft selling inTonga. Annals ofTourism Research 9,383-402.Elder, J.D (1983) Folklore, folk art andcraft in the Caribbean: Their role intourism productdevelopment. In Organization ofAmerican States, CulturalPatrimony and the Tourism

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