Visitor Counts

May 2024

May visitation increased year-over-year by 14.2% or 13,508 visitors with 108,815 total arrivals. . 

May’s total arrival count was above the three, five and ten-year averages by 8.2%, 40.2% and 31.6% respectively.   Multi-year averages are greatly impacted by COVID-19 related downturns.

Previous tracking (below) for the month of May offers a comparisons year-over-year in detail

Arrivals by Sea

Passengers arriving by sea in May totaled 106,407, up for the month by 14.3% from last year. 

Cross Channel Passenger counts were up 13.6%, an increase of 8,039 people

• 1997 had the highest volume for the month @ 73,288 passengers
• 2020 had the lowest volume for the month @ 4,571 passengers
• May Cross Channel Passenger counts were above the three, five and ten-year averages by 3.8%, 24.6% and 18.1% respectively

• Cross Channel Passengers made up 61.76% of total monthly arrivals

Cruise passenger counts totaled 34,694, up by 16.6% from 2023 or by 4,943 visitors

• 2009 had the highest Cruise Passenger volume for the month @ 51,141  
• 2020 and 2021 had the lowest Cruise Passenger volume for the month @ 0
• May Cruise Passenger counts were above the three, five and ten-year averages by 20.6%, 101.0% and 83.4% respectively
• Cruise Passengers made up 31.88% of total monthly arrivals
• The number of Cruise Ships calling on Avalon in May was 10
• 2017 and 2022 had the highest number of ships calling @ 11
• 2020 and 2021 had 0 ships calling
• May typically has 10 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 4,504, up by 17.8% @ 4,180 last year or 324 visitors

• 2014 had the highest passenger volume for the month @ 5,012
• 2020 had the lowest passenger volume month @ 1,704
• May Private Boater Passenger counts were above the three, five and ten-year averages by 0.7%, 12.0% and 6.6% respectively
• Private Boaters Made up 4.14% of total monthly arrivals
• May’s number of Vessels Anchored was down by 0.6% from last year or by 1 boat
• 2023 had the highest number of Vessels Anchored @ 157
• 2013 had the lowest number of Vessels Anchored @ 13
• May was above the three, five and ten-year averages by 24.5%, 48.6% and 64.9% respectively
• May’s number of Vessels on Moorings was up 7.8% from last year or by 81 boats
• 2014 had the highest number of Vessels on Moorings @ 1,253
• 2020 had the lowest number of Vessels on Moorings @ 426
• May was above the three, five and ten-year averages by 0.7%, 12.0% and 6.6% respectively  

 Arrivals by Air

Combined in-bound air passenger counts for May totaled 2,426, up 9.3% or 207 Arrivals from 2023

Private Aircraft Passengers (Airport in the Sky) totaled 513, down 32.4% or by 246 passengers vs. last year

• 2014 had the highest volume for the month @ 1,818
• 2020 the lowest volume for the month @ 651
• May’s Private Aircraft Passenger count was below the three, five and ten-year averages by 45.1%, 44.8% and 49.4% respectively
• Private Aircraft Passengers made up .47% of total monthly arrivals

Helicopter Passenger counts totaled 1,895, up year-over-year by 31.0% or 448 arrivals

• 2021 had the highest volume for the month @ 1,997
• 2020 the lowest volume for the month @ 91
• May Helicopter Passenger counts were above the three, five and ten-year averages by 11.0%, 31.4% and 19.0% respectively
• Helicopter Passengers made up 1.74% of total monthly arrivals

Lodging

Hotels and Short-Term Rentals Occupancy from Smith Travel, AIRDNA and Visit California

• Hotel Occupancy for May was up 3.6% @ 71.8% vs. 69.3% in 2023
• Hotel Occupancy was above the three, five and ten-year averages by 1.9%, 21.9% and 64.0% respectively
• 2019 had the highest Hotel Occupancy for the month @ 77.1%
• 2020 had the lowest Hotel Occupancy for the month @ 14.6%
• Statewide Hotel Room Demand was up 0.8% year-over-year
• Statewide Hotel Occupancy for the month @ 68.6%, an 0.8% increase from last year
• Short-Term Rental Occupancy for May was down 22.8% @ 44.0% vs. 57.0% in 2023
• Short-term Rental Occupancy was below the three, five and ten-year averages by 15.4%, 16.8% and 9.4% respectively  
• 2015 had the highest Short-term Rental Occupancy for the month @ 84.6%
• 2018 had the lowest Short-term Rental Occupancy for the month @ 28.9%
• Statewide Short-term Rental Occupancy was 55%, up 2.2% year-over-year for the month
• Among our competitive set, Hotels ranked in 7^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 six competing markets
• Short-Term Rental Occupancy was higher than Catalina’s in all but one competing market

Hotel and Short-Term Rental Average Daily Rate from Smith Travel, AIRDNA and Visit California

• Hotel Average Daily Rate was up 0.6% @ $224.48 vs. $223.48 in 2023
• Short-Term Rental Average Daily Rate was up by 9.4% @ $640.00 vs. $585.00 in 2023
• Among our competitive set, Catalina ranked 4th in Average Daily Rate for Hotels and 1st for STRs (high to low)
• Statewide Hotel Average Daily Rate was $189.36, up 0.1% over last year
• Statewide STR Average Daily Rate was flat @ $373.00

Hotel and Short-Term Rental Revenue Per Available Room from Smith Travel and AIRDNA

• Hotel Revenue Per Available Room was up 11.1% @ $161.22 vs. $145.17 in 2023
• Short-Term Rental Revenue Per Available Room was $283.00, down 14.8% from $332.00 in 2023
• Among our competitive set, Catalina ranked 6th for hotels and 3^rd for STRs in Revenue Per Available Room (high to low)
• Statewide Hotel Revenue Per Available Room was $129.66, a 0.9% increase from 2023
• Statewide Short Term Rental Revenue Per Available Room was $206.00, up 2% from 2023

Visitors Services

Catalina Island Visitor Center

• Walk-ins for the month were down year-over-year by 11.0% @ 2,192 vs. 2,463 in 2023
• 2018 had the highest volume for the month @ 3,443
• 2020 had the lowest volume for the month @ 0
• May walk-in counts were above the three and five-year averages of by 3.5% and 24.1% respectively

• The number of Phone Calls for the month was down by 38.9% year-over-year @ 442 vs 723
• 2008 had the highest volume of calls for the month @ 2,100
• 2020 had the lowest volume of calls for the month @ 412
• May calls were below the three, five and ten-year averages by 31.0%, 31.9% and 47.6% 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

• May LoveCatalina.com total website traffic was up year-over-year by 33.7% @ 111,000 vs 83,000 in 2023
• May total website users were above the three and five-year averages by 7.1% and 12.8% respectively  
• Book Direct referrals were up year-over-year by 13.5% @ 13,530 vs. 11,922 in 2023 
• Book Direct lodging searches were up 13.8% @ 17,680 vs. 15,533 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 were filled from prior months’ deliveries
• Go California Print Guide orders totaled 84, down from 181 in 2023
• Mail House fulfillment was down @ 0 vs 987 in 2023
• Online Guide downloads were up 12.3% @ 602 vs. 536 in 2023
• Printed Visitor Guide orders on LoveCatalina.com @ 692, were up 0.7% from 687 last year
• 1,080 Visitor Guides were delivered to the Visitor Center, an increase of 107.7% over 2023 @ 520

• New E-newsletter subscribers in May were up year-over-year @ 220 vs 182 in 2023
• New subscribers for the month were above the three -year average

Social Media

Cumulative totals by platform as of May below

• Facebook followers are up year-over-year by 6.1%
• Instagram followers are up year-over-year by 33.9%
• LinkedIn followers are up year-over-year by 26.7%
• TikTok followers are up year-over-year by 23.4%. 
• X followers are down year-over-year by 0.2%

Year-to-date and Historical Arrivals

COVID-19 impacts are illustrated in the snapshot above primarily in the years 2020-2021.  Data is for January – May 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 368,796, up 4.9% from 351,427 last year
• 2024 year-to-date visitation is above the three, five and ten-year average by 2.8%, 28.3% and 15.1% 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 May 2024 was down 2.2% @ 58.8% vs.60.1% tracked for the same time period in 2023
• Short-Term Rental Occupancy was 37.8%, down 17.1% from 2023 which was 45.6%
• Catalina’s average year-to-date Hotel Occupancy of 58.8% was below the YTD occupancy for all of our competing destinations
• Year-to-date statewide room demand was down 1.8%
• Catalina’s average Short-Term Rental year-to date Occupancy was 37.8%.  Destinations with which we compete year-to-date occupancy was not reported this month
• Los Angeles County Hotel Occupancy for the same period was down 1.7% from 2023

Trip Origination
Placer.AI

All Placer.AI data below is presented in descending order

• The top three states from which Catalina’s May visitors originated were California, Arizona and Texas. 
• The top five cities of origination based on number of visitor trips made to the island in May were the MSAs of Los Angeles/Long Beach, Riverside and San Diego/Carlsbad, San Francisco and Dallas
• San Francisco, Phoenix and Bakersfield visitors were on the island for the longest stays
• Top spending per day was from visitors originating in San Jose, San Francisco and Dallas

Year-to-date Visitor Services

Catalina Island Visitor Center

• The number of Phone Calls year-to-date are down by 23.9% @ 1,849 vs. 2,431 in 2023
• Year-to-date Phone Calls were below the three, five and ten-year averages by 23.6%, 21.2% and 44.7% respectively
• Number of Walk-Ins year-to-date are down @ 8,960 vs. 9,292 or 3.5%   
• Year-to-date Walk-In counts were above the three and five-year averages by 3.2% and 34.1% respectively

Year-to-date LoveCatalina.com

• Book Direct Package referrals were not active this reporting period
• Book Direct referrals are up by 14.4% year-to-date @ 53,383 vs. 46,695 in 2023 
• Book Direct lodging searches were up by 26.7% @ 77,113 vs. 60,876 in 2023 
• LoveCatalina.com website users are up for the period by 28.5% @ 487,000 vs.379,000 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 has moved to G4 effective July 2022

Weather

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