At Dexibit, we’ve been working on the first large scale benchmark datasets for Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) in visitor attractions – the new frontier in digital visibility for the visitor economy. Our aim is to understand how cultural and commercial attractions appear in AI generated recommendations across platforms like ChatGPT and Gemini.

The results are clear. And surprising.

Despite decades of digital strategy built around metadata, backlinks and structured markup, technical SEO staples play only a minor role in visibility for generative AI. Instead, our analysis shows that emotional resonance, especially positive visitor sentiment, is the single most powerful predictor of GEO performance.

We analyzed hundreds of attractions across the globe, including museums, galleries, immersive experiences, theme parks, zoos, aquariums, gardens and more. The results? Sentiment rank, or how emotionally positive visitors feel about a place in either public data or their GPT discussions, was the statistically significant predictor of generative AI visibility, not SEO. For every one point increase in this sentiment (on a 5 point scale), attractions gained an average of 5 positions in GEO rank! Visitor experience rating, on the other hand, had no measurable effect on GEO visibility in this model. 

This confirms a powerful idea: generative AI platforms amplify what visitors love, not just what attractions claim. The game has changed from convincing search you’re great, to proving to AI you are.

Unlike search engines, generative systems don’t crawl and rank based on code level optimization. Instead, they’re trained on natural language patterns. They learn what people say, how they feel and what stories get repeated.

That means reviews, social sentiment, testimonials and user generated FAQs and other interactions carry more weight than technical page design. The more emotionally engaging and positively framed the experience, the more likely it is to be surfaced in an AI curated answer.

This also explains why some large, well known attractions underperform: even with perfect site maps, if their public narrative is cold, chaotic, or forgettable, AI won’t recommend them. 

This means emotional storytelling is the new visibility lever. Top performing attractions in our dataset had a few things in common:

• High sentiment ratings (4.6+) with descriptions full of emotion rich language (think “awe-inspiring,” “magical,” “deeply moving”)
• Clear persona alignment, showing who the attraction is for and why it resonates
• Strong presence in authentic, expressive reviews across platforms

These places weren’t just easy to visit. They were memorable, meaningful and emotionally charged. That’s what generative models reward.

If you’re a digital, marketing, or guest experience leader in the visitor economy, here’s how to lean into the new GEO era:

1. Optimize for delight, not just logistics. Joyful moments convert to sentiment, which converts to visibility.
2. Activate your happiest visitors. Their positive stories are your most powerful SEO signal – whether in a review, a post, or a shared itinerary.
3. Feed the narrative. Structure your content around emotional hooks, personas, and memorable moments, not just facts.

A time is coming to stop chasing search volume and instead pivot to curating how your experience makes people feel. In generative AI, emotional resonance is algorithmic gold. That’s a good thing: making visitors  happy is a timeless strategy.