ABSTRACT
The purpose of this chapter is to explain the meaning, scope and impacts of Identity decomposition in the perspective of a correspondent stratification of the Intensifying Factors of the Tourism Experience (IFTE). Taking into account the Identity concept under substantial and relational views, it is generally known that Identity also allows a discovery of the self and others, concerning factors such as history, collective construction and values. Providing a strategic understanding around the multidimensionality of Identity and considering two case studies, this work establishes causal links between Identity attributes and IFTE, also aided by the open nature of this process concerning the opportunity of stratification of these factors. The principles of tourism sustainability, while looking for this connection between Identity and Experience, might be assumed to exist at a desired convergence of mutual advantages, concerning the experiential needs of tourists, on one hand, and the emancipation of the territories and their local communities, on the other. This work underlines the role of Identity attributes as individual and collective factors of emancipation in addition to other contexts of intensification of the tourism experience. This chapter also aims to provide an approach that can give an operational view of the process of the intangible differentiation of the tourism product.
