Essay On Consumer Attitudes Towards Handcrafts

The research seeks to explore the attitudes of tourists around in Zimbabwe towards handcrafts. Consumer attitudes are deemed to be both an obstacle and an advantage to marketers. In marketing terms attitudes is defined as a general evaluation of a product or service formed over time (Kotler, 2005). Attitudes satisfy personal motive and at the same time, affects the shopping and buying habits of customers (The American Marketing Association, 2006). On the other hand, handcraft souvenirs are one of the types of souvenirs available and can be defined as unique expressions of a particular culture or community through local craftsmanship and materials. It is believed that crafts reflect tradition and cultural heritage. Tourists are no longer mere

Cultural tourism holds the main influence in visitors’ decision to travel to destinations in different parts of the globe. This in turn has led to cultural attractions being important in the development of tourism in most regions of the world, for example, Europe, North America and developing countries. Cultural attractions are perceived as being icons of important streams of global culture. This global conception of culture has led to the designation of world heritage sites which attract millions of tourists annually. At national levels, culture is perceived as playing an important role in establishing and reinforcing people’s unique identity and sense of belonging to particular lineages. The role played by culture in creating and reinforcing people’s identity has played a significant role in recent years, towards the growing interest in diverse aspects of heritage tourism, especially to the 1st world countries. Within the same bracket of tourism development, countries like Kenya, in the east; Mauritius, in the Indian Ocean; Morocco in the north; Zimbabwe, in the south and Ivory Coast, in the west, have a well growing handcraft tourism