Visitor Counts

July 2024

July visitation increased year-over-year by 12.8% or 19,295 visitors with 169,942 total arrivals. 

July’s total arrival count was above the three, five and ten-year averages by 8.2%, 29.1% and 24.1% respectively.   Multi-year averages are greatly impacted by COVID-19 related downturns. Cross Channel Counts above include 5,216 arrivals at Two Harbors.

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

Arrivals by Sea

Passengers arriving by sea in July totaled 166,250, up for the month by 13.6% from last year. 

Cross Channel Passenger counts were up 6.9%, an increase of 7,512 people.  This total includes 5,219 arrivals at Two Harbors.

• 2000 had the highest volume for the month @ 117,097 passengers
• 2020 had the lowest volume for the month @ 50,135 passengers
• July Cross Channel Passenger counts were above the three, five and ten-year averages by 4.6%, 17.9% and 14.4% respectively
• Cross Channel Passengers made up 68.36% of total monthly arrivals

Cruise passenger counts totaled 40,673, up by 47.1% from 2023 or by 13,019 visitors

• 2024 had the highest Cruise Passenger volume for the month @ 40,673  
• 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 26.1%, 110.2% and 21.5% respectively
• Cruise Passengers made up 23.93% of total monthly arrivals
• The number of Cruise Ships calling on Avalon in July was 10
• 2019 and 2024 had the highest number of ships calling @ 10
• 2020 and 2021 had 0 ships calling
• July typically has 7 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 9,408, down by 5.7% from 9,980 last year or by 572 visitors

• 2021 had the highest passenger volume for the month @ 10,608
• 2014 had the lowest passenger volume month @ 8,084
• July Private Boater Passenger counts were below the three, five and ten-year averages by 7.8%, 4.4% and 2.1% respectively
• Private Boaters Made up 5.54% of total monthly arrivals
• July’s number of Vessels Anchored was down by 28.8% from last year or by 80 boats
• 2018 had the highest number of Vessels Anchored @ 203
• 2020 had the lowest number of Vessels Anchored @ 129
• July was below the three-year average by 4.2% but above the five and ten-year averages by 13.4% and 10.5% respectively
• July’s number of Vessels on Moorings was up 5.7% from last year or by 143 boats
• 2021 had the highest number of Vessels on Moorings @ 2,652
• 2014 had the lowest number of Vessels on Moorings @ 2,021

• July was above the three, five and ten-year averages 2.4, by 4.4% and 2.1% respectively  

 Arrivals by Air

Combined in-bound air passenger counts for July totaled 3,774, down 15.1% or 670 Arrivals from 2023.

Private Aircraft Passengers (Airport in the Sky) totaled 2,202, down 24.3% or by 708 passengers vs. last year

• 2023 had the highest volume for the month @ 2,910
• 2010 the lowest volume for the month @ 1,445
• July’s Private Aircraft Passenger count was below the three and five-year averages by 7.8% and 5.0% respectively, but above the ten-year average by 0.6%
• Private Aircraft Passengers made up 1.30% of total monthly arrivals

Helicopter Passenger counts totaled 1,490, up year-over-year by 3.0% or 44 arrivals

• 2017 had the highest volume for the month @ 3,025
• 2020 the lowest volume for the month @ 854
• July Helicopter Passenger counts were below the three, five and ten-year averages by 10.4%, 5.2% and 28.8% respectively
• Helicopter Passengers made up .88% of total monthly arrivals

Lodging

From Smith Travel, AIRDNA and Visit California

Hotels and Short-Term Rentals Occupancy

• Hotel Occupancy for July was up 0.5% @ 81.4% vs. 81.0% in 2023
• Hotel Occupancy was above the three and five-year averages by 0.2% and 3.5% respectively, but below the ten-year average by 1.8%
• 2017 had the highest Hotel Occupancy for the month @ 91.4%
• 2020 had the lowest Hotel Occupancy for the month @ 65.5%
• Statewide Hotel Room Demand was down 8% year-over-year
• Statewide Hotel Occupancy for the month @ 74.0%, a 0.7% increase from last year
• Los Angeles County Room Demand was down 3% for the month
• Short-Term Rental Occupancy for July was down 3.6% @ 81.0% vs. 84.0% in 2023
• Short-term Rental Occupancy was below the three-year average by 2.0% but above the five and ten-year averages by 4.3%, and 14.5% respectively  
• 2015 had the highest Short-term Rental Occupancy for the month @ 94.1%
• 2019 had the lowest Short-term Rental Occupancy for the month @ 47.1%
• Statewide Short-term Rental Occupancy was 67%, even year-over-year for the month
• Among our competitive set, Hotels ranked in 8^th place and Short-Term Rentals 9^th 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 two competing markets

Hotel and Short-Term Rental Average Daily Rate

• Hotel Average Daily Rate was down 11.4% @ $260.32 vs. $293.97 in 2023
• Short-Term Rental Average Daily Rate was up by 11.1% @ $679.60 vs. $628.00 in 2023
• Among our competitive set, Catalina ranked 6th in Average Daily Rate for Hotels and 1st for STRs (high to low)
• Statewide Hotel Average Daily Rate was $200.00, down 1.9% from last year
• Statewide STR Average Daily Rate was up 2.0% @ $347.00

Hotel and Short-Term Rental Revenue Per Available Room

• Hotel Revenue Per Available Room was down 11.4% @ $260.32 vs. $293.97 in 2023
• Short-Term Rental Revenue Per Available Room was up 11.1% @ $697.60 vs. 628.00 in 2023
• Among our competitive set, Catalina ranked 7th for hotels and 1st for STRs in Revenue Per Available Room (high to low)
• Statewide Hotel Revenue Per Available Room was $147.00, a 1.2% decrease from 2023
• Statewide Short Term Rental Revenue Per Available Room was $237.00, down 2% from 2023

Visitors Services

Catalina Island Visitor Center

• Walk-ins for the month were down up year-over-year by 3.2% @ 3,568 vs. 3,457 in 2023
• 2018 had the highest volume for the month @ 8,413
• 2020 had the lowest volume for the month @ 566
• July walk-in counts were above the three and five-year averages by 2.7% and 16.6% respectively

• The number of Phone Calls for the month was down by 26.9% year-over-year @ 596 vs 873
• 2008 had the highest volume of calls for the month @ 3,101
• 2024 had the lowest volume of calls for the month @ 554
• July calls were below the three, five and ten-year averages by 26.9%, 35.8% and 55.0% 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

• July LoveCatalina.com total website traffic was flat year-over-year @ 94,000
• July total website users were below the three and five-year averages by 20.0% and 16.5% respectively
• Book Direct referrals were up year-over-year by 20.0% @ 17,663 vs. 14,718 in 2023 
• Book Direct lodging searches were down 2.9% @ 17,497 vs. 18,814 in 2023

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 0 for the same month last year
• Go California Print Guide orders totaled 76, down from 177 in 2023
• Mail House fulfillment was down @ 0 from 312 in 2023
• Online Guide downloads were up 12.3% @ 574 vs. 511 in 2023
• Printed Visitor Guide orders on LoveCatalina.com @ 525, were down 26.8% from 717 last year
• 2,052 Visitor Guides were delivered to the Visitor Center, an increase of 163.1% over 2023 @ 780

• New E-newsletter subscribers in July were down year-over-year @ 192 vs 225 in 2023
• New subscribers for the month were above the three-year average

Social Media

Cumulative totals by platform as of July below

• Facebook followers are up year-over-year by 5.9%
• Instagram followers are up year-over-year by 29.3%
• LinkedIn followers are up year-over-year by 26.8%
• TikTok followers are up year-over-year by 17.3%. 
• X followers are up year-over-year by 0.4%

Trip Origination
Placer.AI

All Placer.AI data below is presented in descending order

• The top five states from which Catalina’s June/July visitors originated were California, Arizona, Nevada, Texas and Utah (descending order)
• The top five cities of origination based on number of visitor trips made to the island in June/July were San Francisco, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Sacramento and San Jose (descending order)
• Fort Worth Texas, Chandler Arizona, Fresno California, Escalon California and Bakersfield California (descending order) visitors were on the island for the most nights
• Top disposable income was from visitors originating in Los Angeles/Long Beach, San Diego, Riverside/San Bernardino, Ventura/Oxnard/Thousand Oaks, and Phoenix (descending order)

Year-to-date and Historical Arrivals

Data above is for January – July 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 672,105, up 9.1% from 615,839 last year
• 2024 year-to-date visitation is above the three, five and ten-year average by 5.0%, 29.4% 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 July 2024 is up 0.4% @ 64.5% vs.64.2% tracked for the same time period in 2023
• Short-Term Rental Occupancy was 47.6%, down 12.6% from 2023 which was 54.4%
• Catalina’s average year-to-date Hotel Occupancy of 64.5% was below the YTD occupancy for all of our competing destinations
• Year-to-date statewide room demand was up 1% but is down 6% from 2019 for the same time period
• Catalina’s average Short-Term Rental year-to date Occupancy was not reported this month

Year-to-date Visitor Services

Catalina Island Visitor Center

• The number of Phone Calls year-to-date are down by 27.9% @ 2,921 vs. 4,053 in 2023
• Year-to-date Phone Calls were below the three, five and ten-year averages by 25.6%, 28.9% and 48.5% respectively
• The Number of Walk-Ins year-to-date are down @ 15,223 vs. 16,180 or 5.9%   
• Year-to-date Walk-In counts were above the three and five-year averages by 1.0% and 25.3% respectively

Year-to-date LoveCatalina.com

• Book Direct Package referrals were not active this reporting period
• Book Direct referrals are up by 14.7% year-to-date @ 86,596 vs. 75,504 in 2023 
• Book Direct lodging searches were up by 16.3% @ 111,988 vs. 96,259 in 2023 
• LoveCatalina.com website users are up for the period by 20.6% @ 679,000 vs.563,000 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 July 2024.  High temps in 2024 were the lowest since 2012.

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