How does gastronomy information presentation quality in social media affect the gastronomy destination image formation of travelers? A study on three gastronomy cities

This study explores the role of gastronomy information presentation quality (GIP-Q) in social media on gastronomy destination image (GDI) formation, drawing upon stimulus-organism-response theory. Data were gathered from 219 travelers from three gastronomy cities in Turkey using a structured self-administered questionnaire and analyzed using PLS-structural equation modeling. The results reveal that reliability, understandability, completeness, timeliness, believability, interpretability, and relevance dimensions positively affect the GIP-Q in social media. The findings also show that the GIP-Q in social media positively affects cognitive and affective GDI formation. This study offers insights to gastronomy industry professionals about enhancing travelers' perceived GDI.