The Covid-19 pandemic has had an adverse impact on religious destinations ever since its outbreak was reported from Wuhan, China in 2019. The aim of this paper is to diagnose the impact Covid-19 pandemic has had on tourism and religious destinations. Empirical evidence elucidates that the Covid-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc on tourism and religious destinations. For example, Christianity, social beliefs and values of individuals, pilgrims were threatened, and faith tested during the pandemic. As such, the aim of this paper is to diagnose the impact that was endured by the Catholic religious destinations in KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa. This is notwithstanding the fact that some religious destinations have not fully recovered even though they are operating. In this study, qualitative approach was employed, unstructured interviews conducted, and systematic sampling randomly done at the pilgrimage destinations visited. Furthermore, NViVo 12 plus was used to transcribe the responses from the participants. The study elucidates on the sufferings endured by pilgrims who annually visited these religious destinations. The rituals such as that of the Catholic venerating the Virgin Mother Mary every month of October was halted. The discussions of the study focus on the elements of Christianity and social value that were compromised because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Religion and social value theory is reflected on in this discussion. The findings indicate a descriptive analysis of how Covid-19 impacted on the religious destinations of the study area. Lastly, the strategies for the religious and pilgrimage destinations post Covid-19 pandemic to survive are suggested and discussed in this chapter.

Coastal and marine tourism is a sector that draws visitors from around the globe to South Africa. This is largely because of an array of marine wildlife resources found in the country. Despite this strong pull factor, there is limited information on the economic value of the marine environment. This article focuses on establishing the profiles of visitors taking part in shark cage diving in Gansbaai. Such profiling will facilitate the understanding of the potential target market of CMT visitors to Gansbaai, whilst contributing towards targeted developments in the area aimed at capturing the economic value of such visitors through the provision of a range of visitor-specific activities to make the destination more appealing. It will also contribute to further developments in the area, in providing a wide range of activities to make the destination more appealing. In ascertaining the profile of visitors, a quantitative research design was adopted. A total of n = 378 self-administered questionnaires were collected from visitors taking part in shark cage diving using a face-to-face proportionate sampling technique. The results revealed that a majority of visitors were drawn to Gansbaai because of shark cage diving and that a large portion travelled to Gansbaai for holiday purposes. There was a challenge in the ability of the destination to attract overnight visitors because of a limited product offering in the area. As a result, minimal spending occurs in Gansbaai as an overwhelming majority of the visitors are day visitors. These results have implications for tourists, tourism destination planners, tour operators and tourism establishments in Gansbaai.