Identità, diversità, autenticità nell’esperienza turistica

This paper deepens the topic of the tourist behavior according to the perspective of the psychology of the sustainable tourism. We introduce the evolution of the concepts of tourist motivation and authenticity and a short synthesis of the realized studies during the last few years. Our studies had the objective to explore the role of the social identity and the place identity in the tourism like an authentic cultural exchange. The results show the necessity to insert the tourist experience in landscapes i) various and recognizable, ii) expression of the social and place identity of its inhabitants and iii) protect like a bio-social diversity. In this model the residents, the public administrators and the tourist operators assume a crucial role: their choices influence the tourists’ and visitors’ behavior in different ways.