Visitor Counts

August 2024

August visitation increased year-over-year by 24.6% or 19,908 visitors with 152,491 total arrivals. 

August’s total arrival count was above the three, five and ten-year averages by 9.0%, 26.3% and 19.3% respectively.   Multi-year averages are greatly impacted by COVID-19 related downturns. Cross Channel Counts above include 4,948 arrivals at Two Harbors.

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

Arrivals by Sea

Passengers arriving by sea in August totaled 148,662, up for the month by 25.0% from last year.

Cross Channel Passenger counts were up 28.0%, an increase of 23,460 people.  This total includes 4,948 arrivals at Two Harbors.

• 1990 had the highest volume for the month @ 121,064 passengers
• 2020 had the lowest volume for the month @ 64,683 passengers
• August Cross Channel Passenger counts were above the three, five and ten-year averages by 11.9%, 21.0% and 15.6% respectively
• Cross Channel Passengers made up 70.31% of total monthly arrivals

Cruise passenger counts totaled 31,333, up by 2.5% from 2023 or by 4,841 visitors

• 2022 had the highest Cruise Passenger volume for the month @ 33,876  
• 2020 and 2021 had the lowest Cruise Passenger volume for the month @ 0
• August Cruise Passenger counts were above the three, five and ten-year averages by 2.5%, 70.8% and 49.8% respectively
• Cruise Passengers made up 20.55% of total monthly arrivals
• The number of Cruise Ships calling on Avalon in August was 8
• 2019 had the highest number of ships calling @ 11
• 2020 and 2021 had 0 ships calling
• August typically has 9 ships call on us
• 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 10,116, up by 16.2% from 8,704 last year or by 1,412 visitors

• 2019 had the highest passenger volume for the month @ 10,612
• 2015 had the lowest passenger volume month @ 8,424
• August Private Boater Passenger counts were above the three, five and ten-year averages by 4.1%, 1.8% and 3.0% respectively
• Private Boaters Made up 6.63% of total monthly arrivals
• August’s number of Vessels Anchored was down by 0.9% from last year or by 12 boats
• 2017 had the highest number of Vessels Anchored @ 259
• 2012 had the lowest number of Vessels Anchored @ 110
• August was above the three, five and ten-year averages by 19.1, 40.7 and 36.9% respectively
• August’s number of Vessels on Moorings was up 16.2% from last year or by 353 boats
• 2019 had the highest number of Vessels on Moorings @ 2,653
• 2012 had the lowest number of Vessels on Moorings @ 2,156
• August was above the three, five and ten-year averages 4.1%, 1.8% and 3.0% respectively  

 Arrivals by Air

Combined in-bound air passenger counts for August totaled 3,843, up 9.8% or 670 Arrivals from 2023.

Private Aircraft Passengers (Airport in the Sky) totaled 2,256, up 10.8% or by 219 passengers vs. last year

• 2008 had the highest volume for the month @ 2,644
• 2017 the lowest volume for the month @ 1,575
• August’s Private Aircraft Passenger count was above the three, five and ten-year averages by 2.9%, 3.7% and 5.7% respectively
• Private Aircraft Passengers made up 1.48% of total monthly arrivals

Helicopter Passenger counts totaled 1,573, up year-over-year by 11.3% or 160 arrivals

• 2015 had the highest volume for the month @ 2,749
• 2020 the lowest volume for the month @ 1,483
• August Helicopter Passenger counts were below the three, five and ten-year averages by 4.6%, 8.5% and 26.8% respectively

• Helicopter Passengers made up 1.03% of total monthly arrivals

Lodging

From Smith Travel, AIRDNA and Visit California

Hotels and Short-Term Rentals Occupancy

• Hotel Occupancy for August was up 9.9% @ 79.6% vs. 72.4% in 2023
• Hotel Occupancy was above the three and five-year averages by 1.9% and 0.8% respectively, but below the ten-year average by 1.7%
• 2017 and 2018 had the highest Hotel Occupancy for the month @ 86.9%
• 2023 had the lowest Hotel Occupancy for the month @ 72.4%
• Statewide Hotel Occupancy for the month @ 71.0%, a 1.5% increase from last year
• Short-Term Rental Occupancy for August was up 2.9% @ 72.0% vs. 70.0% in 2023
• Short-term Rental Occupancy was below the three-year average by 0.5% but above the five and ten-year averages by 2.2%, and 21.6% respectively  
• 2021 had the highest Short-term Rental Occupancy for the month @ 78%
• 2018 had the lowest Short-term Rental Occupancy for the month @ 32.8%
• Statewide Short-term Rental Occupancy was 59%, an increase of 3% year-over-year for the month
• Among our competitive set, Hotels ranked in 5^th place and Short-Term Rentals 1st place in Occupancy (high to low)

Competing Destination Occupancies

• Hotel Occupancy was higher than Catalina’s in four competing markets
• Short-Term Rental Occupancy was higher than Catalina’s in no competing markets

Hotel and Short-Term Rental Average Daily Rate

• Hotel Average Daily Rate was up 1.1% @ $282.35 vs. $279.24 in 2023
• Short-Term Rental Average Daily Rate was up by 34.3% @ $810.00 vs. $603.00 in 2023
• Among our competitive set, Catalina ranked th in Average Daily Rate for Hotels and 1st for STRs (high to low)
• Statewide Hotel Average Daily Rate was $194.00, down 1.8% from last year
• Statewide STR Average Daily Rate was up 12.0% @ $434.00

Hotel and Short-Term Rental Revenue Per Available Room

• Hotel Revenue Per Available Room was up 11.3% @ $224.80 vs. $202.05 in 2023
• Short-Term Rental Revenue Per Available Room was up 36.9% @ $582.00 vs. 425.00 in 2023
• Among our competitive set, Catalina ranked 5th for hotels and 1st for STRs in Revenue Per Available Room (high to low)
• Statewide Hotel Revenue Per Available Room was $139.00, a 0.4% decrease from 2023
• Statewide Short Term Rental Revenue Per Available Room was $258.00, up 15% from 2023

Visitors Services

Catalina Island Visitor Center

• Walk-ins for the month were up year-over-year by 9.2% @ 3,402 vs. 3,114 in 2023
• 2016 had the highest volume for the month @ 6,431
• 2020 had the lowest volume for the month @ 578
• August walk-in counts were above the three and five-year averages by 1.8% and 16.4% respectively

• The number of Phone Calls for the month was down by 28.1% year-over-year @ 554 vs 771
• 2008 had the highest volume of calls for the month @ 2,942
• 2024 had the lowest volume of calls for the month @ 554
• August calls were below the three, five and ten-year averages by 22.2%, 28.3% and 50.5% respectively

• Increased use of online and mobile self-help tools for reservations and research are being seen as the main reason for declining calls Inquiries on social media and via email are often taking the place of calls as well

LoveCatalina.com

• August LoveCatalina.com total website traffic was up year-over-year @ 114,000 vs. 105,000 in 2023
• August total website users were above the three and five-year averages by 12.1% and 15.4% respectively
• Book Direct lodging referrals were up year-over-year by 38.1% @ 16,924 vs. 12,254 in 2023 
• Book Direct lodging searches were up 14.6% @ 18,934 vs. 16,516 in 2023
• Book Direct Packages were not active this month

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.

Visitor Guides & Newsletters

• Certified racks @ 7,344, up from 4,428 for the same month last year
• Go California Print Guide orders totaled 213, up from 142 in 2023
• Mail House fulfillment was up @ 74 from 50 in 2023
• Online Guide downloads were up 25.2% @ 587 vs. 469 in 2023
• Printed Visitor Guide orders on LoveCatalina.com @ 564, were up 37.6% from 410 last year
• 1,080 Visitor Guides were delivered to the Visitor Center, an increase of 38.5% over 2023 @ 780

• New E-newsletter subscribers in August were up year-over-year @ 205 vs 179 in 2023
• New subscribers for the month were above the three-year average

Social Media

Cumulative totals by platform as of August below

• Facebook followers are up year-over-year by 5.8%
• Instagram followers are up year-over-year by 30.6%
• LinkedIn followers are up year-over-year by 26.6%
• TikTok followers are up year-over-year by 15.5%. 
• X followers are up year-over-year by 0.2%

Trip Origination
Placer.AI

All Placer.AI data below is presented in descending order

• The top five states from which Catalina’s August visitors originated were unavailable (descending order)
• The top five cities of origination based on number of visitor trips made to the island in August were unavailable (descending order)
• The top five unavailable cities (descending order) visitors who were on the island for the most nights
• Top disposable income was from visitors originating in unavailable cities (descending order)

Year-to-date and Historical Arrivals

Data above is for January – August of each year.

Below is a graph of year-to-date and mutli-year comparissons of all arrivals by sector.

• 2024 year-to-date total visitation is 824,596, up 11.7% from 738,238 last year
• 2024 year-to-date visitation is above the three, five and ten-year average by 5.7%, 28.8% and 19.4% respectively.

To view historical data for total arrivals by sector, year and month in a spreadsheet form click here. 

Year-to-date Lodging

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

• Hotel Occupancy January through August 2024 is up 1.8% @ 66.4% vs.65.2% tracked for the same time period in 2023
• Short-Term Rental Occupancy was 50.6%, down 10.2% from 2023 which was 56.4%
• Catalina’s average year-to-date Hotel Occupancy of 66.4% was below the YTD occupancy for seven of our ten competing destinations
• Year-to-date statewide Hotel Occupancy was down 0.7% at 68%
• Catalina’s average Short-Term Rental year-to date Occupancy of 50.6% was above all destinations in our competitive set
• Year-to-date statewide Short Term Rental Occupancy was not reported

Year-to-date Visitor Services

Catalina Island Visitor Center

• The number of Phone Calls year-to-date are down by 28% @ 3,475 vs. 4,824 in 2023
• Year-to-date Phone Calls were below the three, five and ten-year averages by 25.1%, 28.8% and 48.8% respectively
• The Number of Walk-Ins year-to-date are down @ 18,625 vs. 19,294 or 3.5%   
• Year-to-date Walk-In counts were above the three and five-year averages by 1.1% and 23.6% respectively

Year-to-date LoveCatalina.com

• Book Direct Package referrals were not active this reporting period
• Book Direct referrals are up by 18.0% year-to-date @ 103,528 vs. 87,758 in 2023 
• Book Direct lodging searches were up by 16.1% @ 130,922 vs. 112,775 in 2023 
• LoveCatalina.com website users are up for the period by 18.7% @ 793,000 vs.668,000 in 2023

Note changes to Book Direct on member links has resulted in shifting some traffic to referrals vs. searches and Google website traffic reporting moved to G4 effective July 2022

Weather

High, low and rain days for August 2024.  High temps in 2024 were the lowest since 2013.

Multi-year temperature and rain days by month (January-Aug) are displayed below.  Measures are taken at Avalon Harbor.