Objectives Based on the tourist gaze theory and the “cognitive-emotional-holistic” tourism image model, this study aims to construct a conceptual model of the formation process of tourism image, and to unveil the structure and characteristics of the tourism image of Haizhu National Wetland Park, thereby proposing implication for the promotion of tourism image in national wetland parks.

Methods A total of 11217 online reviews from tourists were collected. A semantic network analysis was employed to investigate the generation of induced images and cognitive images. High-frequency sentimental word meaning analysis and sentimental dictionary analysis techniques were adopted to explore emotional images.

Results The results indicated that the formation of a tourism image occurred in three distinct phases: the pre-trip gaze, the on-site gaze, and the expressing gaze. These stages culminated in the formation of an induced image, a cognitive image, an emotional image, and a holistic image. The tourism image of Haizhu Wetland perceived by tourists can be characterized as follows: 1) The induced image was primarily shaped by the official dissertation text and underscored a theme of the ecological value of wetlands; 2) The recreational environment image was constituted through the multifaceted perceptions of tourists; 3) The recreational landscape image illustrated that tourists gained into wetlands though a four-dimensional lens encompassing “point, line, surface, and body”. 4) The recreational activity image suggested that tourists’ motivations are combinations of escape and relaxation; 5) The tourism service image showed that services in the wetland park are mainly with low service contact; 6) In terms of the emotional image, tourists showed positive emotional tendencies, and 7) Haizhu Wetland presented a holistic image of both ecology and leisure.

Conclusions The formation of a tourism image was a process that occurred throughout the journey: encompassing the pre-trip, onsite, and the post-trip stages. Therefore, it is suggested to guide the formation of tourist images according to the characteristics of different stages. Several managerial implications are put forward from the aspects of official tourism promotion before the trip, recreation landscape shaping and tourism service optimization onsite, and overall image improvement during the stage post-trip.