Locals laugh at tourists who buy these souvenirs in their country… so are you guilty?
Who can resist a holiday souvenir?
Whether it’s a quirky fridge magnet, a shot glass or a keyring, there’s a multi-million pound industry out there dedicated to cheap mementos.
But while you might think you look like a local in your Thai fishing pants or your ……, chances are that they’re all laughing behind your back.
On the online forum Quora, locals have been sharing the details of the popular tourist souvenirs in their country that they don’t understand.
The chances are you’ve probably got at least one of them gathering dust at home too - sombrero hats, grass skirts and bottles of holy water all make the cut.
Local experiences that are considered traditional also feature, like sampling spicy Indian food and touring the pubs of Prague.
Read on to find out more the biggest souvenir clichés that you should probably leave at the airport…
Expensive Swiss watches
Davide Mirabella from Switzerland said: “In every place that is frequented by lots of tourists you’ll come across one or more shops that sell high-end watches.
“The shops are usually a distasteful mix of gold-plated walls and staff members dressed as if they’re about to receive Queen Elizabeth.
“I often wonder why tourists would come to Switzerland to buy these watches when you can buy them just as well in Hong Kong, Tokyo or Sao Paulo.
“They’re such a widely available luxury good that you don’t have to travel to the place of its origin to be able to actually buy them.”
Moose road signs
Johannes Strömberg from Sweden said: “For some reason, tourists go nuts over moose and both buy and steal the road signs warning for moose.
“Why? It looks awful, who in their right mind will decorate their home with this? Especially an older one where the colours have faded.”
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Indian street food
Kirtana Gopakumar from India said It amazes me every time an enthusiastic foreigner trudges into a restaurant and orders an obviously spicy dish with no questions whatsoever.
“It's only semi entertaining to watch you grapple for water, and scream cusses at the dish you ordered.
“This is India. We figured out how to make lemonade spicy.
“My advice? Always state 'Not spicy' after every order. Get tandoori chicken 'Not spicy'. Get biriyani 'Not spicy'. Hell, get cheesecake 'Not spicy'.”
Mexican sombreros
Paula Llanguas from Spain said: “I would totally understand it if my country was Mexico but, actually, it’s Spain.
“Mexicans and Spanish speak the same language but that’s about it if we’re talking similarities. How could anyone mistake one for the other?
“I would understand if someone bought a montera, the classic torero hat, but the mexican sombreros?”
Prague pub crawls
Jan Levický from Prague said: “Prague tourists visit like 10 pubs during the night and in every one of them, they can basically drink whatever fits into them for half an hour
“So they chug beers and shots very quickly and get wasted soon.
“Wouldn´t it be a lot better to spend a whole night in the same place? Or go through a few in your own tempo?”
Cotton trousers printed with elephants
Kriti Sharma from India said: “In India, or for that matter in Asian countries, westerners have this fetish for elephant print payjamas- I don't know why?
“I have never seen Asians wearing such prints as fondly and passionately as tourists do.
“I know it is their choice, but if 90mper cent of westerners follow suit, then it looks like an obligation for all the tourists, who want to look like one of us.”
Holy water from Israel
Eial Teomy from Israel said: “What they sell is a small plastic or glass bottle filled with water from the Holy Land for something like $10 (£7.70).
“This water is either water from the Jordan river or simple tap water, you can’t really tell.
“You can make a Holy Water bottle yourself - just take an empty bottle from a soft drink you finished drinking and fill it up with water from the Jordan river.”
Coconut bras and grass skirts
Martin Bayer from Hawaii said: “Yes, native Hawaiians wore grass skirts at one time, but the coconut bra is pure fiction.
“I honestly don’t know why anyone would buy this outfit, but evidently people do as they can be purchased all over Waikiki.”
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