Religious travel generates at least $8 billion a year for shrine-centered economies and provides employment for thousands, according to academics -- and being able to measure the celestial and spiritual elements of pilgrimage in monetary terms is far from a modern phenomenon; it's as ancient as the act of spiritual travel itself.
MORE: http://travelkit.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/09/25/14097686-religious-pilgrimages-spur-multibillion-dollar-industry?lite
