Data Sources & Licensing
Transparency about where every piece of place, festival, and photo data on this site comes from.
Primary source: Korea Tourism Organization (KTO)
All bulk place data is sourced from KTO public APIs at api.visitkorea.or.kr and data.go.kr. Used under the Korea Open Government License (KOGL).
Source breakdown
| Code | Source | Description | License |
|---|---|---|---|
| kto-visitkorea-en | KTO English Tourism Information | Master EN catalog (~80K records). Place names, addresses, descriptions in English. | KOGL Type 1 / Type 3 |
| kto-visitkorea-ko | KTO Korean Tourism Information | Master KO catalog (~260K records). | KOGL Type 1 / Type 3 |
| kto-photo | KTO Photo Korea | Tourism photography library. License varies per photo (Type 1, 2, or 3). | KOGL mixed (per-photo) |
| kto-crowd | KTO Tourism Concentration Forecast | 30-day rolling forecast of visitor concentration by sigungu (KT mobile data backed). | KOGL Type 1 |
| kto-durunubi | KTO Durunubi Trail Network | Walking and cycling routes covering Korea's coastline and inland trails. | KOGL Type 1 |
| kto-gocamping | KTO GoCamping | Camping facility data (location, amenities, capacity). | KOGL Type 1 |
| kto-eco | KTO Eco Tourism | Ecological tourism sites (wetlands, protected forests, eco-villages). | KOGL Type 1 |
| kto-wellness | KTO Wellness Tourism | Wellness venues — spas, hot springs, healing forests. | KOGL Type 1 / Type 3 |
| kto-medical | KTO Medical Tourism | Medical tourism providers with multilingual service info. | KOGL Type 1 |
| kto-pet | KTO Pet-Friendly Travel | Pet-accommodating venues, parks, and stays. | KOGL Type 1 |
| data-go-kr-festival | Festival Standard Dataset | National festivals from data.go.kr. | KOGL |
| data-go-kr-market | Traditional Market Standard | Traditional markets — operating cycle, store count. | KOGL |
KOGL license types
Type 1 (출처표시)
Use freely with attribution. Commercial use allowed. Adaptations allowed.
Type 3 (출처표시 + 비상업적)
Attribution required + non-commercial use only. Some KTO photos fall under Type 3 — we attribute and label them on detail pages.
Full license terms: www.kogl.or.kr
Original content (© Korea Code)
The following are written and curated in-house and are not from KTO:
- Blog posts — editorial guides and itineraries
- Travel Basics — practical first-time visitor knowledge
- Travel Code descriptions — lifestyle-driven travel style framework
- Region landing copy — Region introductions
- Recommendation explanations — "Best for STAGE travelers" badge labels and similar reasoning
Updates and corrections
KTO data is synced via scheduled cron jobs (daily and weekly). Operating hours, fees, and event schedules can change between syncs — always verify with the official source before traveling.
Found an error? Let us know.