As the "hip Buddhism" craze continues, demand for visiting temples last year jumped 20% from the previous year.
Tmap Mobility said on the 22nd that an analysis of the top 1,000 driving datasets from 2023 to 2025 showed demand for visiting temples rose for three consecutive years. The number of temple destination settings last year increased 26.9% from the previous year, and was up 55.9% compared with 2023.
The temple Tmap users visited most last year was Bulguksa, followed by Naksansa, Tongdosa, Haedong Yonggungsa, and Bomunsa. With many temples familiar to tourists included, demand for choosing temples as travel destinations also appears to have increased.
Interest in Buddhist cultural content has also been strong recently. According to the Korean Temple Stay Program of the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism, a total of 349,219 people participated in templestays held at 158 temples nationwide last year. The 2025 Seoul International Buddhism Expo held in Apr. drew more than 200,000 visitors over four days, the largest on record.
A Tmap Mobility official said, "The steady rise in demand for temple visits shows that Buddhist culture is permeating everyday life beyond the boundaries of religion," adding, "We will continue to analyze changing lifestyles and social trends from various angles through driving data."