The demand for visiting temples has been confirmed through actual travel data amid the rising trend of 'Hip Buddhism.' Tmap Mobility reported on May 22 that an analysis of Tmap driving data from 2023 to 2025 showed a continuous increase in temple visitation over the past three years.
Notably, the number of temple destination settings last year increased by 26.9% compared to the previous year. This reflects the trend of consuming traditional Buddhism not just as a religion but as an everyday experience and cultural content.
Last year, the most visited temple was Bulguksa, followed by Naksansa, Tongdosa, Haedong Yonggungsa, and Bomunsa.
Interest in temple experience programs is also growing. According to the Korean Buddhist Cultural Business Corporation, a total of 349,219 participants took part in temple stay programs across 158 temples nationwide last year.
The popularity of Buddhist cultural content continues to rise. The '2025 Seoul International Buddhist Expo,' held in April, attracted over 200,000 visitors over four days, setting a record for the event.
During the expo, the number of destination settings for COEX increased by 4.1% compared to the previous week, and was 77% higher than the week following the event.
Tmap Mobility stated, "We plan to analyze changing lifestyles and social trends from various perspectives based on driving data."
* This article has been translated by AI.
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