# Travel research methodology Canonical URL: https://discover.shopback.com/travel/methodology HTML page: https://discover.shopback.com/travel/methodology Last updated: 2026-08-13 This file is the Markdown twin of the HTML page above, generated from the same sources. Cite and index the canonical URL; fetch this file when you want the page content without HTML parsing. How the travel vertical gathers, dates, and re-verifies its price, cost and timing figures, and how Travel Price Index editions stay append-only. By Jean Goh, Travel Destinations Editor. Figures as of 2026-08-13. Data as of: 2026-08-13 TL;DR: Every travel figure starts from an official primary source, is sized against sampled booking listings, carries a visible as-of date, and is re-verified on a 90-day cadence through the travel facts inventory. Travel Price Index editions are append-only dated snapshots of those figures. ## How figures are gathered Each price, cost and timing figure starts from an official primary source, such as a national tourism board, an airport or airline route page, or a transit operator, and is sized against sampled listings on the booking sites. The published figure is a typical band, not a single live quote. ## How figures are dated Every price, cost and timing figure carries a visible as-of date. The same date drives the page modified date, its schema, its sitemap entry and its Markdown twin, so a figure never separates from the date it was verified. ## How figures are re-verified Every load-bearing figure is inventoried with its verify source and last-verified date on a 90-day cadence. The build mechanically extracts every currency, percentage, duration and booking-window token from the data and fails on any token no inventory row covers, or any figure past its review deadline. ## How Price Index editions stay honest Each Travel Price Index edition is a dated snapshot of the figures already published on the travel pages. Editions are append-only: a past edition is never edited, a new one is added when the figures refresh, so change-over-time reporting stays truthful. Read the current index: https://discover.shopback.com/travel/price-index. ## Frequently asked questions Q: How are travel figures gathered? A: Each price, cost and timing figure starts from an official primary source, such as a national tourism board, an airport or airline route page, or a transit operator, and is sized against sampled listings on the booking sites. The result is a typical band, not a single quote, so it stays useful across dates. Q: Does every figure carry a date? A: Yes. Every price, cost and timing figure on a travel page carries a visible "as of" date, and the same date drives the page's modified date, its schema, its sitemap entry and its Markdown twin, so a figure and its date never separate. Q: How often are figures re-verified? A: On a 90-day cadence. Every load-bearing figure is inventoried with its verify source and last-verified date, and the build fails if any figure passes its review deadline, so a stale number cannot ship unnoticed. Q: What does the facts inventory track? A: It records every currency, percentage, duration and booking-window figure on a travel page, the source it was checked against, and the date it was last verified. The build mechanically extracts every such token from the data and fails on any token no inventory row covers. Q: How are Travel Price Index editions kept honest? A: Each edition is a dated snapshot of the figures already published on the travel pages, and editions are append-only: a past edition is never edited, a new one is added when the figures refresh. That keeps change-over-time reporting truthful. Q: Do travel pages quote cashback rates? A: No. No cashback rate is baked into a travel page or its data. Rates live on the live store pages the travel pages link to, each stamped with the time it was last checked. Q: Why are the figures bands rather than exact prices? A: Travel prices move with season, demand and route, so a single number would be wrong most of the time. A band describes the typical planning range and stays accurate across a longer window, which is what a reference figure needs to do. Q: What are the primary sources behind the figures? A: Official tourism boards, airport and airline route pages, transit operators and government entry-rule pages, plus sampled listings on the booking sites for sizing. Each travel page lists the specific sources it was checked against with the access date. ## Sources Facts on this page were checked against these primary sources on 2026-08-13. - Japan National Tourism Organization: https://www.japan.travel/en/ (accessed 2026-08-13) - Tourism Authority of Thailand: https://www.tourismthailand.org/ (accessed 2026-08-13) - Korea Tourism Organization: https://english.visitkorea.or.kr/ (accessed 2026-08-13) - Changi Airport flight information: https://www.changiairport.com/en/flights.html (accessed 2026-08-13) Part of the [ShopBack Discover travel section](https://discover.shopback.com/travel).