The Influence of Culinary Content on Morocco's Destination Image and Tourists' Attitude toward Visit Intention in the Digital Era

Abstract

Culinary experiences have emerged as a significant cultural and experiential motivator for tourism, especially in the digital age, where culinary interactions often begin online. Social media culinary content creates visually compelling narratives that form symbolic representations of the culinary scene, influencing travelers' expectations and views before their travels. The proposed model positions social media culinary content as the external stimulus, while tourists’ perceived value of local cuisine, tourist attitude, and destination image function as organismic states, ultimately shaping visit intention as the behavioral response. Using survey data from 304 digitally active respondents, the study employs Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) to examine the hypothesized relationships. The results show that exposure to social media culinary content significantly enhances tourists’ perceived value of local cuisine, which in turn strengthens their attitudes toward local food. These positive attitudes further improve destination image and ultimately increase visit intention. Destination image emerges as the strongest direct predictor of visit intention, highlighting its critical influence on travel decision- making. These findings validate the applicability of the S-O-R framework in culinary tourism and underline the interplay between cultural attributes and digital stimuli in shaping tourist behavior. Theoretically, the study contributes by integrating culinary tourism and influencer research into a unified S-O-R model, demonstrating how digital food narratives activate psychological evaluations and behavioral intentions. Practically, the results offer valuable guidance for destination managers, emphasizing the importance of credible influencer partnerships and culturally grounded culinary storytelling to strengthen Morocco’s destination image and motivate potential visitors.