Research-based guides
AsiaPicks guides are built from official and primary sources: tourism organizations, transport operators, attraction operators and government pages. We do not claim first-hand visits. When we describe an experience, we describe what the operator and official sources state.
Which sources we use, in order
We go first to the body that sets the fact. A subway fare comes from the city or the operator, a palace admission fee from the Korea Heritage Service, a train timetable from Korail, an entry rule from the Korea Immigration Service. The Korea Tourism Organization and the city tourism sites (Visit Seoul, Visit Busan) fill in visitor information.
When a change has been announced but the official page has not caught up yet, we cite a named Korean news report, such as The Korea Herald or The Korea Times, and replace it with the official page once that page shows the new value. For a bookable product, such as a tour or a ticket, we cite the seller's own product page for what is included and when it runs. If we cannot find a source for a price, rule or opening time, we leave it out rather than estimate it.
How each fact is shown
Every price, rule, opening time and fee on a guide has a source in the "Sources" list at the foot of the page. Each source shows its publisher and the date we checked it. Guides that quote prices or times also state, in the page outline, the date every figure was checked.
Facts that appear on more than one guide, such as transit base fares, entry rules and major admission fees, are kept once in a shared fact record with their value, the previous value, the date the change took effect, the source and the date it was checked. A guide quotes that record instead of retyping the number, so all guides change together and show the same source.
Facts, recommendations and affiliate options are kept apart
Facts carry a source and a "checked" date. Recommendations are labelled "Our pick". Booking options from partners are labelled as affiliate options, and a page with partner links says so near the top. How partners fit in is explained in how we choose recommendations.
AI assistance and human review
We use AI tools to help gather sources and draft text. A person reviews every guide, checks every price and rule against the cited source, and approves the page before it is published. Drafts are held until that approval; nothing is published automatically.
How we keep guides current
Checks run on a schedule rather than when someone happens to notice a problem.
- Weekly source watch. Every Monday an automated job opens the source page of each shared fact and checks that the value we publish still appears there. If it does not, or the page cannot be reached, the fact is flagged for a person to reread the source. The job never changes a value by itself.
- Rolling re-checks. Shared prices, timetables and opening hours are re-checked at least every 90 days, and shared rules and fixed dates at least every 180 days, sooner where a fact needs it. A guide with prices, hours or dates of its own comes up for a check when its oldest source reaches 90 days.
- Rules with an end date. A rule that is due to expire, such as a temporary entry exemption, is flagged 60 days before that date so the guide can be rewritten in time.
- Seasonal guides. Guides tied to a season or an annual event are refreshed before the season starts, with the new year's dates.
When the "Updated" date changes
The "Updated" date on a guide, and the modification date we give search engines, change only when something on the page changes: a value, a rule, a recommendation or the advice around it. A re-check that finds nothing different updates the "checked" date of the sources, not the "Updated" date. When a shared fact changes, every guide that quotes it takes the new value and the new "Updated" date in the same update.
Corrections
If you find an error, tell us through the contact page with the page and what you found. We check the report against the official source. If the guide is wrong, we correct it, record the source we checked, and the "Updated" date moves to the day of the correction. If the official source still supports the guide, we keep it as written.
What we will never do
We will not invent visits, reviews, travellers or authors. We will not show ratings or star scores from booking partners. We will not publish a price, rule or opening time we could not source, and we will not move a date forward to make a page look fresher than it is.