Why get a snow globe or cheesy T-shirt on vacation when you can get a tattoo instead?

Forget all the kitschy travel mementos — the keychain keepsakes, snow globe souvenirs, commemorative tees or other tourist tchotchkes.
Jetsetters are opting for a more permanent token from their trips: they’re getting inked, as “tattourism” is on the rise.
Data from Hostel World found that more than 40% of adult vacationers under the age of 35 got a tattoo while traveling — half of whom revealed they went abroad just to get some ink.
4 Leave the tourist tchotchkes behind — the best keepsake from vacation is body art, according to some travelers. Ivana – stock.adobe.com
California tattoo artist Rose Hardy previously told Conde Nast Traveler that around 70% of her clientele travel from other cities or even countries to get inked by her, while Oaxaca, Mexico, artist Dr. Lakra said half of his clients travel from abroad.
Cristina Ferucci, 25, previously told The Wall Street Journal that she and her friends got matching tattoos to commemorate their trip to London last year that was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We needed something to signify and hold this moment together forever,” she told the Journal. “It’s small, but it’s the best keepsake.”
Meanwhile, Sean Flynn, a 36-year-old editor living in Jersey City, recently went to Barcelona for vacation, spontaneously getting a new tattoo during his travels.
“What’s important is not what someone else thinks of my tattoos, but what I derive from them, the satisfaction and personal joy they bring me,” he told the Journal. “That’s better than any souvenir.”
4 At Untitled Hotel, guests can get inked during their stay. Kathryn Sheldon
4 The hotel’s tattoo parlor, Unscripted Ink, also hosts happy hours with flash tattoos. Kathryn Sheldon
In New York City, hotels are cashing in on the body mod craze, opening up parlors in the lobby or inviting tattoo artists for residencies.
Moxy Hotels recruited Jonathan “JonBoy” Valena to be a resident at the Times Square location back in 2019, and, most recently, the Untitled Hotel opened the city’s first permanent in-hotel tattoo studio, Unscripted Ink, where guests receive a complimentary drink at the rooftop bar with their ink.
“It came from tattoos being the ultimate souvenir of a person’s travels,” Liv Novotny, the resident tattoo artist and co-founder of the shop, previously told The Post. “A piece of art on you for life that always reminds you of the city you traveled to and the adventure you had.”
Over the years, hotels in the Big Apple have introduced body art as part of the amenities, such as The New Museum and W Hotel group, Fodors reported, and overseas, Stockholm’s Generator Hostel and Cambodia’s White Rabbit also have in-house tattoo parlors.
It’s not just confined to hotels, either — cruise ships are also on board with the trend.
New Jersey-based Madison Blancaflor, 27, told the Journal she was once inked aboard a cruise by Virgin Voyages, which offers a tattoo shop on their vessels.
“How many people can claim they got a tattoo in international waters?” she said.
4 Tourists are opting for tattoos over traditional keepsakes, like keychains, mugs or T-shirts. Song_about_summer – stock.adobe.com
The tattourism trend is just one facet of a larger movement for keepsake ink. At pop-up events, parties and even weddings, goodie bags have been swapped for “flash” tattoos.
Despite the outcry that the set-up could be unsanitary — and, not to mention, could end poorly, depending on the level of guest inebriation — newlyweds have offered people the opportunity to get inked at their nuptials, according to viral videos on TikTok.
At pop-up events around New York City, patrons can get a free flash tattoo, small pieces of art that are already drawn up, according to Eater.
At the Lower East Side hotspot Ray’s, the bar hosts seasonal events and offer themed ink — Taylor Swift tattoos for “Thurs-Tays,” “Beetlejuice” art to celebrate the new spooky flick, Charli xcx ink for a “brat summer” send-off — and they aren’t the only ones.
In December, That Cheese Plate founder Marissa Mullen commemorated her brand’s 10-year anniversary with a flash tattoo station, telling the outlet that it’s “an amazing way to mark a memory.”
Meanwhile, the food brand Omsom has also celebrated anniversaries with flash ink, which the company’s co-founder Kim Pham calls “funny and cute.”
“I feel like self-expression shouldn’t be taken so seriously,” Pham told Eater, comparing the commemorative ink to seeing “your body as a little scrapbook.”