ABSTRACT
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 reflect on the negative impact that the 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 and it disrupted Christianity for some believers. Religious tourism concentrates on visiting significant religious sites. The main motivation for this travel is to meet the spiritual, and religious needs of people. However, another motivation for travel may be to simply explore the culture of other nations and their religions and sacred objects. In Christianity, social beliefs and values of individuals, and pilgrims were threatened, and their faith was sorely tested during the pandemic. The focus will be on Catholic religious destinations in KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa. This is notwithstanding that some religious destinations have not fully recovered even though they are now operating. A qualitative approach was employed, and indirect unstructured interviews were conducted. Systematic sampling was randomly done at the pilgrimage destination sites visited. The paper reflects on the sufferings endured by pilgrims who annually visit the religious destinations and the impact the pandemic has had on these sites. Significance of these religious destinations are also reflected on, the rituals such as that of the Catholic Church venerating the Virgin Mother Mary every month of October was sadly halted. Religion and social value theory is thus reflected upon in this discussion. The findings adopt a descriptive analysis of how Covid-19 impacted on the religious destinations within the study areas. Lastly, strategies for tourism and religious pilgrimage destinations post Covid-19 pandemic to survive are suggested and briefly discussed. © 2022 Open Access/Author/s - Online @ http//:www.pharosjot.com