# Determ: AI travel answers cite Facebook, YouTube over tourism sites

Published: 2026-10-21T08:22:27.645Z · Source: Croatia Week (https://www.croatiaweek.com/ai-recommends-croatia-to-british-holidaymakers-in-new-study/)
Source date: 2026-10-20
Flags: Determ study — vendor-published
Entities: chatgpt, gemini, ai-overviews

Determ, a Zagreb-based media-monitoring company, tested 556 AI responses to 12 seaside-holiday questions asked from a simulated UK user's perspective across ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Overviews between October 1 and 16, 2026, per Determ and Croatia Week. Croatia appeared in 67% of answers overall — 80% on ChatGPT, 67% on Gemini, 53% on AI Overviews — trailing Spain (71%), Greece and Italy (70% each) but ahead of Portugal, Montenegro and Turkey. Of more than 3,000 citations drawn from 628 sites, Facebook (143), YouTube (100) and Instagram (83) led; Croatia's official tourism site, croatia.hr, did not rank among the 50 most-cited sources, while Spain's and Greece's official sites did.

Why it matters: It's a concrete instance of a citation gap this record has tracked elsewhere — UGC and social platforms outcrowding brand-owned domains in AI answers — applied here to a destination whose own site earns none of the citation traffic despite ranking fourth in recommendation share.

## What this answers

**Does ChatGPT recommend Croatia for a seaside holiday?**

Often — Croatia appeared in 80% of ChatGPT's answers to seaside-holiday questions asked from a simulated UK user, versus 67% on Gemini and 53% on Google AI Overviews, per a Determ study of 556 AI responses collected October 1-16, 2026.

**Do AI chatbots cite official tourism board websites in travel answers?**

Not often, per Determ's study — Croatia's official tourism site, croatia.hr, did not rank among the 50 most-cited sources out of 3,000+ citations, while Facebook, YouTube and Instagram led.


Canonical: https://anythingengineoptimization.com/item/2026-10-21-determ-ai-travel-answers-cite-facebook-youtube-over-tourism-sites/
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