Visitor Counts

January 2025

January visitation increased slightly year-over-year by 0.2% (+109 visitors) with 48,004 total. arrivals

January’s total arrival count was above the three, five and ten-year averages by 4.9%, 28.3% and 12.1% respectively. Cross Channel Counts above include 630 arrivals at Two Harbors this year and 684 last year.

Previous tracking (below) for the month of January offers comparisons year-over-year by segments.

• January 2018 had the highest number of total visitors @ 52,997
• January 2021 had the lowest number of total visitors @ 10,521

Arrivals by Sea

Passengers arriving by sea in January totaled 46,471, up for the month by 1.5% from last year. 

Cross Channel Passenger counts were up 8.1%, an increase of 694 people.  Cross Channel Counts above include arrivals at Two Harbors.

• 2018 had the highest volume for the month @ 27,774 passengers
• 2021 had the lowest volume for the month @ 7,458 passengers
• January Cross Channel Passenger counts were above the three, five and ten-year averages by 9.6%, 24.7% and 13.2% respectively
• Cross Channel Passengers made up 53.56% of total monthly arrivals

Cruise passenger counts totaled 19,533, down from 20,808 last year, that’s a decrease of 6.1% from 2024 or -1,275 visitors

• 2010 had the highest Cruise Passenger volume for the month @ 24,444 
• 2021 & 2022 had the lowest Cruise Passenger volume for the month @ 0
• January Cruise Passenger counts were above the three, five and ten-year averages by 0.7%, 43.9% and 14.5% respectively
• Cruise Passengers made up 40.69% of total monthly arrivals
• The number of Cruise Ships calling on Avalon in January was 6
• 2017 had the highest number of ships calling @ 11
• 2020 had 0 ships calling

January typically has 9 ships call

• The Vessel Counts chart above is missing ten-year averages on number of ships due to a period of time where data was only tracked annually.

Private Boater Passenger counts totaled 1,228, up by 3.4% from last year’s total of 1,188 or by 40 visitors

• 2014 had the highest passenger volume for the month @ 1,976
• 2016 had the lowest passenger volume month @ 736
• January Private Boater Passenger counts were above the three-year average by 16.1% but below the five and ten-year averages by 2.7% and 0.7% respectively
• Private Boaters made up 2.56% of total monthly arrivals

• January’s number of Vessels Anchored was down 3.4% @ 86 from 89 last year
• 2019 had the highest number of Vessels Anchored for the month @ 110
• 2012 had the lowest number of Vessels Anchored @ 13
• January was even with the three-year average and above the five and ten-year averages by 28.4% and 34.0% respectively
• January’s number of Vessels on Moorings was 307, up 3.4% from last year’s 297 or by 10 boats
• 2014 had the highest number of Vessels on Moorings @ 494
• 2016 had the lowest number of Vessels on Moorings @ 184
• January was above the three-year average by 16.1% but below the five and ten-year averages by 2.7% and 0.7% respectively 

 Arrivals by Air

Combined in-bound air passenger counts for January totaled 1,545, down 27.6% or 590 Arrivals from 2,135 in 2024.

Private Aircraft Passengers (Airport in the Sky) totaled 1,038, down 30.5% or by 456 passengers vs. last year @ 1,494

• 2014 had the highest volume for the month @ 1,785
• 2019 had the lowest volume for the month @ 0
• January’s Private Aircraft Passenger count was below the three, five and ten-year averages by 13.4%, 18.2% and 3.6% respectively

• Private Aircraft Passengers made up 2.16% of total monthly arrivals

Helicopter Passenger counts totaled 495 down year-over-year from 624 or by 20.7% or 129 arrivals

• 2016 had the highest volume for the month @ 998
• 2011 had the lowest volume for the month @ 459
• Helicopter Passenger counts were below the three, five and ten-year averages by 11.1%, 5.2% and 31.9% respectively
• Helicopter Passengers made up .66% of total monthly arrivals

Lodging

From Smith Travel, AIRDNA and Visit California

Hotels and Short-Term Rentals Occupancy

• Hotel Occupancy for January was down 5.9% @ 48.0% vs. 51.0% in 2024
• Hotel Occupancy was below the three and ten-year averages by 2.9% and 8.8% respectively, but above the five-year average by 11.7%
• 2018 had the highest Hotel Occupancy for the month @ 68.9%
• 2021 had the lowest Hotel Occupancy for the month @ 23.3%
• Statewide Hotel Occupancy for the month was 60%, up 5.0% from 2024
• Nationwide Hotel Occupancy was 53.0% for the month, up 1% from 2024
• Short-Term Rental Occupancy for January was down by 16.3% @23.4% vs. 28.0% in 2024
• Short-term Rental Occupancy was below the three, five and ten-year averages by 16.7%, 25.3% and 15.8% respectively
• 2022 had the highest Short-term Rental Occupancy for the month @ 37.0%
• 2019 had the lowest Short-term Rental Occupancy for the month @ 19.3%
• Statewide Short-term Rental Occupancy was 47.0%, up 4.7% from last year
• Nationwide STR Occupancy was 43% for the month, up 2.9% from last year
• Among our competitive set, Hotels ranked 9th and Short-Term Rentals ranked last or 10th place in Occupancy (high to low)

Competing Destination Occupancies

• Hotel Occupancy was higher than Catalina’s in all competing markets
• Short-Term Rental Occupancy was higher than Catalina’s in all competing markets

Hotel and Short-Term Rental Average Daily Rate

• Hotel Average Daily Rate was down 15.3% @ $171.71 vs. $202.62 in 2024
• Short-Term Rental Average Daily Rate was up by 34.4% @ $650.36 vs. $484.00 in 2024
• Among our competitive set, Catalina ranked 10th (lowest) in Average Daily Rate for Hotels and 1st for STRs (high to low)
• Statewide Hotel Average Daily Rate was $187.00
• Nationwide Hotel Average Daily Rate was $151.00
• Statewide STR Average Daily Rate was $392.00, an increase of 6.7% over 2024
• Nationwide STR Average Daily Rate was $331.00, an increase of 5.3% over 2024

Hotel and Short-Term Rental Revenue Per Available Room

• Hotel Revenue Per Available Room was down 20.3% @ $82.37 vs. $103.33 in 2024
• Short-Term Rental Revenue Per Available Room was up 11.2% @ $152.36 vs. $137.00 in 2024
• Among our competitive set, Catalina ranked 10th (lowest) for hotels and 6th for STRs in Revenue Per Available Room (high to low)
• Statewide Hotel Revenue Per Available Room was $112.00
• Nationwide Hotel Revenue Per Available Room was $79.00
• Statewide Short Term Rental Revenue Per Available Room was $183.00, up 11% from 2024
• Nationwide Short Term Rental Revenue Per Available Room was $142.00. up 8.4% from 2024

Visitors Services

Catalina Island Visitor Center

• Walk-ins for the month were down year-over-year by 25.2% @ 996 vs. 1,331 in 2024
• 2017 had the highest volume for the month @ 1,703
• 2021 had the lowest volume for the month @ 2
• January walk-in counts were below the three-year average by 13.6% but above the five-year average by 3.1%

• The number of Phone Calls for the month was down by 16.9% year-over-year @ 251 vs 302
• 2012 had the highest volume of calls for the month @ 1,131
• 2021 had the lowest volume of calls for the month @ 214
• January calls were below the three, five and ten-year averages by 17.7%, 16.9 and 40.0 respectively

Increased use of online and mobile self-help tools for reservations and research are being seen as the main reasons for periods with declining calls

LoveCatalina.com

• January LoveCatalina.com total website traffic was down 42.6% year-over-year @ 51,106 vs. 89,000 in 2024
• January total website users were below the three and five year averages by 27.7% and 24.9% respectively 
• Book Direct lodging searches were up year-over-year by 2.9% @ 14,095 vs. 13,704 in 2024 
• Book Direct lodging referrals were down 16.5% @ 6,974 vs. 8,319 in 2024

Note changes to Book Direct in 2021 resulted in shifting traffic between referrals and searches.  New Google metrics inhibit ten-year reporting in our software.  Digital ads were temporarily suspended due to widespread news coverage of California fires, impacting web traffic and referrals.

Visitor Guides & Newsletters

• Certified racks had 9,792 guides delivered vs 14,796 in January 2024
• Go California Print Guide orders totaled 887, up from 209 in 2024
• Mail House fulfillment was 0 both this year and last year for the month, due to inventory available
• Online Guide downloads were down 16.2% @ 330 vs.394 in 2024
• Printed Visitor Guide orders on LoveCatalina.com @ 590, were down 37.7% from 947 last year
• Trade Show distribution was 1,248 this year and averages 416 over the last three years
• Visitor Guides delivered to the Visitor Center totaled 960, down from 1,242 last year and was also impacted by available inventory

• New E-newsletter subscribers in January were down year-over-year @ 99 vs 228
• New subscribers for the month were below the three and five-year averages

Social Media

Cumulative totals by platform as of January below

• Facebook followers are up year-over-year by 5.6%
• Instagram followers are up year-over-year by 33.8%
• LinkedIn followers are up year-over-year by 18.5%
• Threads followers are up by 84.4%
• TikTok followers are up year-over-year by 16.7%. 
• X followers are up down year over-year by 2.6%

Trip Origination
Placer.AI

All Placer.AI data below is presented in descending order

• The top five states from which Catalina’s January visitors originated were California,Washington,  Arizona,Minnesota and Florida
• The most nights spent on the island by state were California, Washington, Florida, Arizona and Massachsets
• The top five cities/DMAs of origination based on number of visitor trips made to the island in January were Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego Ventura and Seattle
• The top five DMAs in overnight stay generation were Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, and Ventura
• The top five most visitors per zip code were San Diego 92014, Murrieta 92562, Glendora 91750, Glendora 91702 and Glendale 91011
• The top five zip codes and cities for longest trip duration in January were Glendora 91250, San Diego 92014, Chula Vista, 91913, Glendale 91913, Murrieta 92562 (desending order)
• Top cities of overnight visitor generation ranked by disposable income were San Jose @ $237.5k, San Diego @ $249k, Santa Barbara @ $250.7k, San Francisco @ 253.4K and New York @ $249.9k

Weather

High, low and rain days for January.

Multi-year counts of rain days for the month of January. Measures are taken at Avalon Harbor.