10 Asian Countries with the Most Tourists

Yea, Im from israel and i still dont know why no one visits israel, Welp defenitlly religion tourism. But cmonnn Some people have to come visit we got some ancient and holy sites and no one is visiting them :(

Don't say "no" Some people believe in different things. I personally do NOT recognize Palestine, Israel, or Kosovo.

yes but from a logistics and services point of view the needs of someone travelling for tourism are pretty much the same ones that a pilgrim has: transportation, hotels, food&beverages, tourist guides and so on.

economically speaking, we can say thad saudi arabia has a quite flourishing tourism industry.

I'm with kalbahamut on this. Here is the definition of tourism that Google provides: "the commercial organization and operation of vacations and visits to places of interest." Merriam-Webster defines it as "the practice of traveling for recreation." Dictionary.com defines it as "the activity or practice of touring, especially for pleasure." NONE of those definitions includes religious pilgrimage.

I dunno, I don't see why adding religion makes it any different. They are still personally interested in going to the place and pay money to do so, whether the reason is religious or recreational I don't see why it matters.

I am a Muslim and I 100% agree with Kal on the Hajj. If it wasn't for the religious obligation and the spiritual rewards no one in their right-minds would paying so much money and effort to go through it, as it is very draining physically. However, I disagree on Umrahs because they are not actually a religious duty. Performing an Umrah falls under the 'favorable' or 'beloved' acts in Sharia. Umrahs are also quite a pleasant experience as they typically take around an hour or so to complete and are not especially draining, but you get similar spiritual satisfaction to the Hajj. They can be done in any time of the year and you also get to visit Mecca, shop in its Souks, and experience something different. I know countless people that are financially able who do an Umrah every year (or more) just to refresh themselves.

It's like if the Pyramid of Giza (an ancient monument that draws in large numbers of people every year, just like the Kaaba) also happened to be the centre of an active religion. So overall I'd say there's a fine line between Tourism and Religious duty here, so we shouldn't totally exclude Saudi Arabia from touristic countries.

@kenpo that is a flawed argument. You could also say NONE of those mentions visiting museum, so the people the travel to visit museum are not tourists. #1 place of interest describes it well, so definitely not an argument against it, #2 indeed does not include it #3 does include it, just points out especially, but not just, for pleasure.

And those are only responses to your selected sources. I could give a few aswell. Wiktionary: "The act of visiting another region or jurisdiction for a particular purpose" Tourism comes from tour which is "A journey (through a particular country)" Tourism is simply travelling to another place, sometimes for a specific goal ( a landmark you would like to see, or a pilgrimage) and sometimes just to enjoy yourself in another country.

If you are not convinced, just google: Is pilgrimage tourism. (in fact personally I think it is at the cradle of tourism, at first the main reason people travelled to other places that had religious significance)