Unveiled at EME Level Up: AI Hospitality Connect on 14 July 2026, the report finds 1,207 hotel brands surfacing across ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Claude, up from 742 in May 2026, as AEYEPULSE expands coverage to 32 segments nationwide.
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — eMarketingEye, an award-winning digital marketing agency for the travel and hospitality industry, launched the June 2026 edition of its AI Visibility Report for Sri Lanka Hotels at EME Level Up: AI Hospitality Connect, held on 14 July 2026. Produced through its AI brand monitoring platform, AEYEPULSE, the report tracked 1,207 hotel brands across 32 travel segments, a sharp jump from the 742 brands and 18 segments recorded in the May edition; it was also the first edition to include Anthropic’s Claude alongside ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity.
The findings offer one of the first structured looks at how Sri Lanka’s hotels and resorts are being discovered, ranked and recommended inside AI-generated answers, as travellers increasingly turn to conversational AI tools rather than planning their trips.
Key Findings
- Anantara Peace Haven Tangalle Resort retains the top spot: the resort had 17.4% overall AI visibility, followed by Cape Weligama (15.5%) and Amanwella, which climbed into third place at 12.4%.
- Brand discovery nearly doubled: 1,207 hotel brands were identified in June, up 63% from 742 in May, as more properties are being surfaced across AI-generated travel recommendations.
- A new AI platform joins the study: Claude was added to this edition, bringing the total number of AI platforms monitored to four, namely ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Claude.
- Segment coverage nearly doubled: The report expanded from 18 to 32 segments, adding 14 new categories including Private Villas/Bungalows, Nature/Eco, Surf Resorts, and destination-level breakdowns for Galle, Bentota, Ahangama, Anuradhapura/Polonnaruwa, Hiriketiya, Hikkaduwa, Mirissa, Unawatuna, Weligama, Tangalle and Kalutara.
- Brand AI Visibility Scorecards go live: Any of the 1,207 brands identified can now request their own individual scorecard at aeyepulse.emarketingeye.com/scorecard
Overall Winners — June 2026
A Wider Lens on the Market
The report’s expansion into 14 new destination and category segments reflects growing demand from hotel brand teams to understand AI visibility at a granular, location-specific level. Newly added segments already show some of the most concentrated leadership positions in the study: Anantara Peace Haven Tangalle Resort recorded 100% visibility in the new ‘Tangalle’ segment, Avani Kalutara Resort led the new ‘Kalutara’ segment at 97.9%, and Jetwing Blue topped ‘Negombo’ at 85.9%.
Established categories also saw shifts. Ceylon Tea Trails held onto the ‘Luxury’ and ‘Top/Best Hotels and Resorts’ titles, Santani Wellness Kandy continued to lead ‘Wellness’ at 82.7%, and Wild Coast Tented Lodge again topped the ‘Wildlife’ segment at 84.3%. The ‘Down South’ segment remained the most competitive in the report, with 80 brands discovered and the top spot changing hands to Anantara Peace Haven Tangalle Resort at 44.6% visibility.
Winners by Segment
Why It Matters
“AI platforms are becoming a genuine discovery channel for travellers, not just a novelty,” said Rajitha Dahanayake, CEO of eMarketingEye, speaking at the launch of the report at EME Level Up: AI Hospitality Connect. “Adding Claude and expanding to 32 segments gives hotel brands a far more complete picture of where they stand not just nationally, but within the specific destinations and traveller intent that drives bookings.”
He further added that, “The brands that show up consistently across all four platforms are the ones building real authority in this new layer of search. With AEYEPULSE, we can now help any hotel brand go beyond a one-off snapshot, monitoring their AI visibility continuously, benchmarking it against competitors, and putting in place the content and technical work needed to actually improve it over time.”
What’s Next for Brands?
Alongside the report, eMarketingEye also unveiled a new self-service capability. Hotels can now request their own Brand AI Visibility Scorecard, already generated by AEYEPULSE for each of the 1,207 brands identified in this edition, by logging in at https://aeyepulse.emarketingeye.com/scorecard
The scorecard gives brand, marketing and revenue teams a first look at how their property is appearing (or not appearing) across ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Claude. It is a new initiative by eMarketingEye, designed to help individual hotels understand exactly where they stand today.
From there, brands can go a step further by subscribing to AEYEPULSE, eMarketingEye’s AI visibility tracking tool, to generate their own reports on demand, track changes over time, and benchmark against named competitors. eMarketingEye already works with more than 100 hotels, including several global brands, helping them monitor their AI visibility, gather competitor insights, and implement full-funnel Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) strategies to improve how they are discovered, cited and recommended by AI platforms.
About the Study
AEYEPULSE, eMarketingEye’s AI brand visibility monitoring platform, submits carefully authored, real-world prompts across leading AI platforms to simulate how travellers search for hotels. Each response is analysed to identify the brands mentioned, their position in ranked answers, and the external sources the AI cites. Discovered brand names are normalised and reviewed by analysts so that variants of the same property collapse into a single canonical entry, and mentions are aggregated across segments to reflect a realistic picture of AI-driven discovery.
This report reflects AI-generated recommendations captured during June 2026 using predefined prompts. AI outputs are non-deterministic, and rankings may change as models evolve. Results are relative rankings, not a substitute for sales or market-share data, and the report does not promote, endorse, or recommend any brand listed.
About eMarketingEye
eMarketingEye is an award-winning digital marketing agency for the travel and hospitality industry, with over 19 years of experience, 300+ awards, and more than 1,200 clients across 45+ countries. The agency’s services span SEO, PPC, programmatic and social media marketing and web development, while its AI Marketing Suite includes Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) and the AEYEPULSE AI visibility platform. eMarketingEye helps hospitality brands strengthen their digital presence, drive direct bookings and maximise revenue. EME Level Up: AI Hospitality Connect, held on 14 July 2026, is part of eMarketingEye’s ongoing series of industry events that bring together hotel brand, marketing and revenue teams to discuss AI’s growing role in travel discovery and distribution.Please visit the link below to download the AI Visibility Report for Sri Lanka Hotels, June 2026 edition
