Objective Taking the symbolic meaning of cultural symbols as the starting point, to explore effective methods for the design of Macau tourist souvenirs, and to promote the cultural dissemination of Macau and the development of the tourist souvenir industry. Method First, make a necessary introduction to the development of Macau’s tourism industry, comb and analyze the research results of domestic and foreign scholars on the attributes and development of tourism souvenirs, and draw the necessity of studying the design of Macau’s tourism souvenirs from the perspective of cultural symbols. Second, through the elaboration of the concept of symbols, the thematic categories of cultural symbols are defined, and then the design framework of tourist souvenirs is constructed by borrowing symbolic methods and metaphorical symbolic methods of cultural symbols. Finally, investigate and classify the content of Macau cultural symbols, give the design method of Macau tourist souvenirs, and illustrate with design examples. Conclusion The borrowing of cultural symbols and metaphorical design methods can effectively help designers complete the design of tourist souvenirs from a symbolic perspective. The key is to find the symbolic connection between cultural symbols and tourist souvenirs. This is of great value to the research of design theory and the design innovation of tourist souvenirs.