July 2026

Love Catalina Island Tourism Authority

Monthly Tourism Statistics Report — Prepared August 31, 2026

All Arrivals

July visitation up year-over-year by +3.5% with 168,857 total arrivals.

July's total arrival count was above the three, five and ten-year averages by 4.7%, 11.4% and 20.1% respectively (table below). Cross Channel counts above include 5,783 arrivals at Two Harbors this year and 5,491 last year.

Previous tracking (below) for the month of July offers comparisons year-over-year by segment since 2012.

July 2024 had the highest number of total visitor arrivals ever tracked for the month @ 169,942; July 2026 was the second-highest July on record @ 168,857, just 1,085 arrivals behind.

July 2020 had the lowest number of total visitor arrivals @ 63,240.

Arrivals by Sea

Passengers arriving by sea in July totaled 165,702, up by +3.7% for the month compared to last year (table below).

Cross Channel passenger counts were up by +4.4%, an increase of 4,798 people. Cross Channel counts shown include arrivals at Two Harbors.

2000 had the highest volume of Cross Channel passengers for the month @ 117,097; July 2026 was the third-highest July on record @ 113,694, behind 2000 and 2024.

2020 had the lowest volume for the month @ 50,135.

July Cross Channel passenger counts were above the three, five and ten-year averages by 2.2%, 2.9% and 10.7% respectively.

Cross Channel passengers made up 67.33% of total monthly arrivals.

Cruise passenger counts totaled 42,732, up from 41,473 last year by +3.0%.

July 2026 had the highest Cruise passenger volume for the month ever tracked @ 42,732.

2020 and 2021 had the lowest Cruise passenger volume for the month @ 0.

July Cruise passenger counts were above the three, five and ten-year averages by 16.8%, 23.6% and 77.6% respectively.

Cruise passengers made up 25.31% of total monthly arrivals.

Private Boater passenger counts totaled 9,276, down 1.4% from last year's 9,408.

2021 had the highest passenger volume for the month @ 10,608.

2014 had the lowest passenger volume for the month @ 8,084.

July Private Boater passenger counts were below the three, five and ten-year averages by 3.4%, 3.2% and 4.9% respectively.

Private Boaters made up 5.49% of total arrivals.

Vessel counts for the month, with multi-year comparisons, are shown in the table below.

July 2026's number of Vessels Anchored was 159, down 22.4% from 2025's 205.

2023 had the highest number of Vessels Anchored for the month @ 288.

2020 had the lowest number of Vessels Anchored @ 129.

July's Anchored Vessels count was below the three, five and ten-year averages by 31.7%, 24.9% and 17.6% respectively.

July's number of Vessels on Moorings was 2,319, down 1.4% from 2025's 2,352.

2021 had the highest number of Vessels on Moorings @ 2,652.

2014 had the lowest number of Vessels on Moorings @ 2,021.

July's Vessels Moored count was below the three, five and ten-year averages by 3.4%, 3.2% and 4.9% respectively.

The number of cruise ships calling on Avalon in July was 9, down from 10 last year.

2019, 2024 and 2025 had the highest number of ships calling @ 10.

2020 had the lowest, with 0 ships calling.

July typically has 7.0 ships call (10-year average, excluding this year).

Arrivals by Air

Combined in-bound air passenger counts for July totaled 3,155, down by 5.7% from 3,347 in 2025 (table below).

Private Aircraft passengers (Airport in the Sky) totaled 1,815, up +14.6% vs. last year's total of 1,584.

2023 had the highest volume for the month @ 2,910.

2010 had the lowest volume for the month @ 1,455.

July's Private Aircraft passenger count was below the three, five and ten-year averages by 18.7%, 17.0% and 16.0% respectively.

Private Aircraft passengers made up 1.07% of total monthly arrivals.

Helicopter passenger counts totaled 1,340, down year-over-year by 24.0% from 1,763 in 2025.

2017 had the highest volume for the month @ 3,025.

2020 had the lowest volume for the month @ 854.

Helicopter passenger counts were below the three, five and ten-year averages by 14.4%, 20.6% and 30.3% respectively.

Helicopter passengers made up 0.79% of total monthly arrivals.

Lodging

From Smith Travel, AirDNA and Visit California

Hotels and Short-Term Rentals Occupancy

Hotel Occupancy in July was up by +8.0% @ 82.6% vs. 76.5% in 2025, according to Smith Travel.

Hotel Occupancy was above the three, five and ten-year averages by 3.7%, 3.2% and 0.5% respectively.

2017 had the highest Hotel Occupancy for the month @ 91.4%.

2020 had the lowest Hotel Occupancy for the month @ 65.5%.

Statewide Hotel Occupancy for July was 75%, up 3.5% year-over-year, per Visit California / CoStar.

Nationwide Hotel Occupancy for July was 70%, up 2.3% year-over-year, per Visit California / CoStar.

Catalina's Short-Term Rental Occupancy for July was down 2.4% @ 81.0% vs. 83.0% in 2025, according to AirDNA.

Short-Term Rental Occupancy was below the three and five-year averages by 2.0% and 2.1% respectively, and above the ten-year average by 11.7%.

2015 had the highest Short-Term Rental Occupancy for the month @ 94.1%.

2016 had the lowest Short-Term Rental Occupancy for the month @ 43.9%.

Statewide Short-Term Rental Occupancy for July was 71%, up 2.0% year-over-year, per Visit California / AirDNA.

Nationwide Short-Term Rental Occupancy for July was 68%, up 0.2% year-over-year, per Visit California / AirDNA.

Competing Destination Occupancies

Hotel Occupancy was higher than Catalina's in San Diego, Huntington Beach and Monterey, and lower than Catalina's in Palm Springs, Santa Barbara, Newport Beach, Anaheim, San Francisco and Santa Monica/Marina del Rey.

Short-Term Rental Occupancy was higher than Catalina's in San Diego, Newport Beach, Huntington Beach and San Francisco; about even in Monterey and Anaheim; and lower than Catalina's in Palm Springs, Santa Barbara and Santa Monica/Marina del Rey.

Hotel and Short-Term Rental Average Daily Rate

Hotel Average Daily Rate was up +20.4% @ $297.93 vs. $247.41 in 2025.

Short-Term Rental Average Daily Rate was down by 6.3% @ $824 vs. $879 in 2025.

Statewide Hotel Average Daily Rate for July was $212, up 5.8% year-over-year, per Visit California / CoStar.

Nationwide Hotel Average Daily Rate for July was $172, up 5.7% year-over-year, per Visit California / CoStar.

Statewide Short-Term Rental Average Daily Rate for July was $327, up 8.7% year-over-year, per Visit California / AirDNA.

Nationwide Short-Term Rental Average Daily Rate for July was $318, up 7.2% year-over-year, per Visit California / AirDNA.

Hotel and Short-Term Rental Revenue Per Available Room

Hotel Revenue Per Available Room was up +11.3% @ $246.05 vs. $220.99 in 2025.

Short-Term Rental Revenue Per Available Room was down 8.7% @ $664 vs. $727 in 2025.

Statewide Hotel RevPAR for July was $159, up 9.6% year-over-year, per Visit California / CoStar.

Nationwide Hotel RevPAR for July was $120, up 8.2% year-over-year, per Visit California / CoStar.

Statewide Short-Term Rental RevPAR for July was $232, up 11.0% year-over-year, per Visit California / AirDNA.

Nationwide Short-Term Rental RevPAR for July was $215, up 7.4% year-over-year, per Visit California / AirDNA.

Visitor & Member Services

July Mixer Attendance was down 16.7% @ 65 vs. 78 last year.

July Mixer Attendance was below the three-year average by 12.2%.

Phone Calls for the month were down year-over-year by 1.5% @ 746 vs. 757 in 2025.

Calls were essentially in line with the three-year average (+0.5%), but below the five and ten-year averages by 6.8% and 34.5% respectively.

2008 had the highest number of calls @ 3,101.

2024 had the lowest number @ 596.

Increased use of online and mobile self-help tools for reservations and research are believed to be a driving factor behind the long-term decline in call volume.

Walk-ins for the month were down year-over-year by 3.6% @ 2,782 vs. 2,887 in 2025.

Walk-ins were below the three, five and ten-year averages by 15.8%, 16.4% and 32.9% respectively.

2018 had the highest volume of walk-ins for the month @ 8,413.

2020 had the lowest volume for the month @ 566.

LoveCatalina.com

July's LoveCatalina.com total website traffic was up +8.2% year-over-year @ 81,413 vs. 75,272 in 2025.

July's total website users was below the three-year average by 7.2%, and below the five and ten-year averages by 1.1% and 18.9% respectively.

Book Direct lodging referrals were down year-over-year by 20.2% @ 12,109 vs. 15,177 in 2025.

Book Direct lodging searches were down 11.4% @ 22,173 vs. 25,021 in 2025.

Google Business Profile calls for July totaled 66, down 43.1% vs. 116 in 2025.

Google Business Profile direction requests totaled 105, down 26.1% vs. 142 in 2025.

Google Business Profile website clicks totaled 131, down 47.0% vs. 247 in 2025.

Google Business Profile views totaled 5,319, up 25.2% vs. 4,247 in 2025.

Google Business Profile search data was not yet available for July at the time of this report.

Note: Changes to Book Direct in prior years shifted some traffic between referrals and searches, and evolving Google/AI search behavior continues to affect traditional website traffic measurement.

Visitor Guides & Newsletters

Go California printed guide orders totaled 230, down from 279 in 2025.

Mail House fulfillment was 83 vs. 0 in 2025. Note: Mail House shipments resumed this month after none in 2025.

Online guide downloads were 372 vs. 523 in 2025.

Printed visitor guide orders on LoveCatalina.com were 472 vs. 430 last year.

Visitor guides distributed at trade shows were 0 vs. 0 last year. Note: no trade shows were attended this month.

Visitor guides delivered to the Visitor Center were 1,200 vs. 960 last year.

Total visitor guide demand across all channels (Go California, Mail House, online downloads, LoveCatalina.com print orders, trade shows and the Visitor Center) was 2,357 in July, up +7.5% from 2,192 in 2025, and -10.7% vs. the three-year average and -0.4% vs. the five-year average.

New e-newsletter subscribers in July totaled 106, down 10.9% from 119 last year.

New subscribers for the month were below the three and five-year averages of 179 and 173.

Social Media

Cumulative totals by platform as of July, with year-over-year and three/five-year average comparisons.

Facebook followers are up year-over-year by 8.9%.

Instagram followers are up year-over-year by 16.8%.

LinkedIn followers are up year-over-year by 19.2%.

Threads followers are up year-over-year by 7.4%.

TikTok followers are up year-over-year by 92.8%.

X followers are down year-over-year by 6.0%.

Weather

High, low, rain days and rainfall for July (2020-2026) are shown below. Measures are taken at Avalon Harbor.

Daytime highs averaged 73 degrees in July, up from 68 degrees in July 2025 — the second-highest July on record behind 2018's 75.3 degrees.

Overnight lows averaged 64 degrees, a new July record, up from 63 degrees in July 2025.

July 2026 recorded 0 rain day(s), matching 0 in 2025.

July 2026 recorded 0.00 inches of rain, matching 0.00 in 2025.

There were 0 weather warnings issued in July 2026, matching 0 in 2025.

Year-to-Date and Historical Arrivals

2026 year-to-date total visitation (Jan-Jul) was 787,797, up +13.3% from 695,583 over the same period in 2025 (table below) — the highest Jan-Jul total ever tracked.

Year-to-date arrivals were above the three, five and ten-year averages by 19.2%, 23.7% and 40.5% respectively.

Year-to-Date Lodging

Hotel and Short-Term Rental Occupancy from Smith Travel, AirDNA

Hotel Occupancy year-to-date was up +9.7% @ 71.3% vs. 65.0% tracked in 2025.

Hotel Occupancy year-to-date was above the three, five and ten-year averages by 11.2%, 9.2% and 8.5% respectively.

Short-Term Rental Occupancy year-to-date 2026 was 47.7%, up 1.0% from 2025 which was 47.2%.

Year-to-Date Visitor & Member Services

The number of Mixer attendees year-to-date was down by 22.2%, partly reflecting February's mixer cancellation.

Note: The February 2026 Mixer was canceled.

The number of Phone Calls year-to-date was up 4.2% @ 3,434 vs. 3,295 in 2025.

The number of Visitor Center Walk-Ins year-to-date was up 2.4% @ 13,691 vs. 13,375 in 2025.

Year-to-Date LoveCatalina.com

Year-to-date total website users were up 12.3% @ 641,392 vs. 570,890 in 2025.

Year-to-date Book Direct referrals were down 11.9% @ 78,344 vs. 88,904 in 2025.

Book Direct lodging searches were down year-to-date by 8.9% @ 150,141 vs. 164,737 in 2025.

Note: Google’s search algorithm changes and growing AI-assisted search usage are believed to be affecting traditional website traffic measurement year-over-year; newer engagement metrics do not yet have enough history for multi-year comparison.

Year-to-Date Weather

Multi-year weather comparisons for January-July are shown below. Measures are taken at Avalon Harbor.

Average daytime high temperature January-July 2026 was 68.1 degrees vs. 64.0 degrees over the same period in 2025, up 6.5%.

Average overnight low temperature January-July 2026 was 56.7 degrees vs. 54.4 degrees in 2025, up 4.2%.

Total rain days January-July 2026 were 12 vs. 14 in 2025, down 14.3%.

Total rainfall January-July 2026 was 3.23 inches vs. 4.54 inches in 2025, down 28.9%.

Total weather warnings January-July 2026 were 36 vs. 49 in 2025, down 26.5%.

Notes on Data Sources

Arrivals figures (Cross Channel, Cruise, Private Boat, Private Aircraft, Helicopter, vessel counts) reflect data from 2012 forward only, per current reporting standards.

All three/five/ten-year averages in this report exclude the current year (2026).

Statewide and nationwide lodging comparisons are sourced from Visit California’s July 2026 Monthly Travel Indicators Summary (CoStar for hotels, AirDNA for short-term rentals).

Google Business Profile search totals for July were not yet available in the source data at the time this report was prepared.