Visit London Editorial Policy

Expertise

The Visit London content team continually builds on its knowledge, expertise and first-hand experiences to highlight the best of London to our users. With this depth of knowledge developed over the past 15 years, when we say something is good, you can trust that we mean it and that our recommendations are genuine and informed.

• We understand nothing beats a personal recommendation, so we go out and about, scouring the city and sharing our experiences, tips and insights – this allows us to make recommendations based on experience, confident that these will help visitors make the most of their trip.
• Each week, our partners, ticketing suppliers, venues' marketing teams and PR agencies invite our writers to experience their offerings first-hand.
• From theatre, tours and attractions to food, shopping, music and more, we are experts who know our subjects and keep our fingers on the pulse, seeking out information about new openings – we bring you the best of what's new, what's trending and what you may not discover elsewhere.
• We always keep our users at the forefront of our minds and aim to seek out and share the most useful and helpful information, from practical tips on how to get to places, when to go and how long to stay, to little-known insights to enhance their visits.
• We are constantly building on our first-hand experiences, but with so much to see and do in our great city, we realise we cannot visit everywhere. So, we also rely on trusted reviews, visitor insights, plus recommendations from colleagues who have built up a wealth of London knowledge over decades.

Trust and independence

Importantly, our content is author-led and independent. We understand that now, more than ever, people crave expert advice from sources they can trust – we also understand that trust must be earned, which is why we are transparent about how our content is created and when commercial relationships exist.

In a digital landscape increasingly shaped by AI-generated content, advertising and misinformation, our aim is simple: to be a trusted source of expert, authoritative information about London for every visitor.

• Millions of people use Visit London every year to plan their trips to the city. As London's official visitor guide, our responsibility is to provide accurate, reliable and trustworthy information that helps them make informed decisions with confidence.
• We are endorsed by the Mayor of London and backed by London & Partners, the capital's growth agency, but our editorial content remains independent.
• We work closely with tourism businesses and cultural institutions and have long-standing relationships with trusted affiliates and partners across the city, but we retain full editorial control over the content we publish.
• We clearly identify when content is supplied by our partners – each partner manages their own business listings on visitlondon.com, but we review this content against our content guidelines.
• Our editorial recommendations are made independently and are not influenced by commercial arrangements.
• We clearly label any sponsored and paid-content partnerships where a fee has been received.

How we use AI

We recognise that AI can support parts of the content creation process, but we have a robust policy on the use of AI tools – this ensures our content is authentic, accurate and original.

• We do not use AI to write content – why would we, when we have a team of London experts who love writing and are keen to share their experiences?
• We do not use AI-generated images or video. Our visual content is original – via our own photographers, videographers and authors – or supplied directly by third parties.
• We use AI for research purposes to help us uncover new and lesser-known experiences, but we always verify and, where possible, personally visit to guarantee all information is accurate.
• We use AI as a “first check” of our content to make the content as useful as possible – we often ask AI for suggestions on what might be missing to ensure we cover all those key questions our users may have.
• We use AI to check the readability and accessibility of content, ensuring it is fit for purpose and accessible to all users.
• All content published on visitlondon.com is written, reviewed or approved by a human editor before publication.

How we select what to include

Our authors combine their wealth of London knowledge with a range of insights to determine what to recommend. This includes:

• First-hand author visits
• Tips and recommendations from the Visit London team, who have a vast knowledge of the city built up over decades.
• Verified data, such as the most booked, viewed or searched products via our channels.
• Search trends highlighting what’s most popular and relevant to our users.
• Visitor insights – from verified industry data providers to trusted reviews and recommendations.

How we ensure accuracy

We realise that accuracy is essential, especially for visitors to London who rely on us to provide the correct information during their time in the city.

• When creating content, we always check details against official sources.
• We do not rely on claims provided by third parties – for example, in press releases or communications – we always fact-check these details ourselves.
• When using data to inform research and inclusions, we rely on credible sources and verified industry insights.
• While we may use AI tools for research purposes, we always independently verify the information they provide.

Corrections and feedback

Despite our efforts, errors can occasionally occur. When we identify inaccuracies, we update this content as quickly as possible.

We welcome feedback on our content to improve accuracy, usefulness and relevance. Please contact us to report errors or outdated information.

How we keep content up to date

We regularly refresh our content to make sure information is up to date, that the latest openings and trends are included, and that it remains as useful and inspirational as possible for our users.

• With thousands of webpages on visitlondon.com, it is a big task to keep all content fully up to date. We prioritise updates to the most-searched and viewed pages, as well as those that generate the most bookings – this data indicates which pages are of highest interest to our users, so we give this content the most attention.
• But we don't forget about our other content... We aim to update pages across the website as regularly as possible, removing closed venues and adding new and exciting experiences across our content on an ongoing basis.
• We regularly update our timely content, such as event listings and seasonal roundups, to provide fresh recommendations and tips for things to do each weekend, month and season.
• We also regularly create entirely new content, from event and venue listings for new openings to timely blog posts, guides and handy itineraries – this ensures our content remains fresh and relevant, showcasing what’s happening in London right now.

Accessibility, inclusivity and diversity

We aim to create content that is accessible, inclusive, easy to understand, and reflects the diversity of London and its visitors.

• We follow accessibility best practices and continually review changing guidelines to ensure the best experience for all users.
• We aim to create content that is welcoming and relevant to visitors from different backgrounds and communities.
• We strive to include visual content that reflects London’s diversity and that of our users.

How we work with partners

Visit London collaborates with more than 350 tourism partners across London, spanning attractions, tours, hotels, restaurants and more. Their partnership with us provides them with networking opportunities, insights and campaign opportunities.

• Tourism partners receive an enhanced website listing for their venue(s). Editorial content is curated independently, so partnership does not guarantee inclusion within articles or other editorial features.
• While partners manage the content on their venue listing(s), our team reviews any changes to ensure the content meets our editorial guidelines, is accurate and is written in a consistent style.
• Partnership helps to make sure our editorial team is aware of our partners’ latest news, events and experiences across London. Final editorial decisions are always based on relevance, quality and what will be most useful for our audiences.
• Our account managers collaborate with partners to arrange in-person visits that authors have independently requested.
• We base content inclusions on what we believe is of most interest to our audiences and users. Therefore, our content is often a mix of partners and non-partners.
• Where partners are included, we may feature these above non-partners where it makes sense for our content and users.

How we work with affiliates

Visit London is a commercial entity and, as such, we always consider including bookable experiences that visitors consistently book, those we know they like and those we’ve personally enjoyed.

• We receive a commission from our affiliate partners for each booking. We are run by London’s not-for-profit growth agency London & Partners – as a social enterprise, this revenue supports jobs in London.
• We select products based on suitability – products are not included if they are not relevant to our content and users.
• Bookable products appear above non-bookable products in our content, enabling us to highlight immediately accessible experiences and generate income that aligns with our objectives.

How we work with advertisers

We sometimes work with advertisers and sponsors to deliver paid content partnerships. We clearly mark any inclusions that fall under these paid collaborations.

Conflict of interest

Our authors do not receive payment from venues, attractions or tourism businesses in exchange for favourable coverage, inclusions or recommendations.

Authors regularly visit venues across the city, gathering their own tips and recommendations, to provide first-hand insights for our users. Sometimes, our authors are given complimentary access to these experiences – we clearly mark this in our content when the value of that access is £100 or more.

Questions about our Editorial Policy

Questions about our editorial policy can be directed to Jonny Payne, our Content Lead, who oversees content decisions on visitlondon.com.

Please see our contact page for more information.