From experience to image: How ecotourism experiences shape destination image through tourist engagement and value co-creation

This study examines how ecotourism experiences influence destination image by proposing and empirically testing an integrated "experience → engagement → co-creation → image" model, grounded in the stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) framework and informed by theories of experience economy and service-dominant logic. Using survey data from 770 ecotourists, we employed confirmatory factor analysis, structural equation modeling, and bootstrap mediation tests to assess both direct and mediated pathways. The results reveal that sensory, situational, and perceptual dimensions of the ecotourism experience evoke tourist engagement; the experience also directly contributes to value co-creation, while engagement further enhances co-creative behaviors. Engagement and value co-creation sequentially mediate the effect of experience on destination image, with co-creation emerging as the dominant driver of the destination image. These findings reconceptualize destination image as a socially co-constructed outcome and offer actionable insights for destination managers to design immersive experiences and facilitate co-creation platforms that advance sustainable branding.