DestinationsIt’s no mystery: Kyoto leads for spiritual tourism

Where are the world’s most popular spiritual sites?

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Kyoto, the Japanese city of 2,000 temples and shrines, attracts those seeking spiritual connections across the world.
Kyoto, the Japanese city of 2,000 temples and shrines, attracts those seeking spiritual connections across the world. Photo Credit: Adobe Stock/Luciano Mortula-LGM

Step forward Kyoto, the Japanese city which is home to more than 2,000 temples and shines and is the centre of Zen Buddhism.

Experts at Psychic World, an online chat platform that connects people with psychics, mediums, clairvoyants, and tarot card readers, investigated the most searched spiritual sites to inspire mystic voyagers worldwide.

Searches for Kyoto analysed by Psychic World produced an annual figure of 7.1 million searches, ahead of Mont Saint Michael in France and Rishikesh in the Himalayan mountains, the world’s yoga capital.

The Vatican City, home to the largest religious building in the world – St Peter’s Basilica, nabbed fourth spot in front of  Montserrat, and another pilgrim site in Spain, Camino de Santiago.

Kathmandu in Nepal was the  seventh most searched for religious sites, ahead of Cambodia’s Angkor Wat, Uluru in Australia and the Isle of Skye in Scotland.

Celebrity psychic, Inbaal Honigham, says more people are tapping into spiritual travel, driving the global religious tourism market to a 15.3% annual growth rate through 2030.

“Spiritual travel destinations are decided on in many different ways, and for a myriad of reasons, by various spirituality seekers,” she says.

“As modern movies and books draw on humanity's past for inspiration, the old gods are experiencing a revival, and with them, travellers flock to visit the locations which would have formed the background to those tales."

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