Visitor Counts

April 2024

April visitation increased year-over-year by 15.3% or 12,833 visitors with 96,442 total arrivals. . 

April’s total arrival count was above the three, five and ten-year averages by 7.2%, 43.6% and 25.6% respectively.

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

Arrivals by Sea

Passengers arriving by sea, totaled 93,714, up for the month by 16.2% from last year. 

Cross Channel Passenger counts were down 6.3%, a decrease of 3,421 people

• 2022 had the highest volume for the month @ 69,111 passengers
• 2020 had the lowest volume for the month @ 1,811 passengers
• April Cross Channel Passenger counts were below the three and ten-year averages by 12.2% and 0.8% respectively but above the five -year average by 9.7%
• Cross Channel Passengers made up 53.09% of total monthly arrivals

Cruise passenger counts totaled 40,118, up by 74.9% from 2023 or by 17,168 visitors

• 2024 had the highest Cruise Passenger volume for the month @ 40,118  
• 2020 and 2021 had the lowest Cruise Passenger volume for the month @ 0
• April Cruise Passenger counts were above the three, five and ten-year averages by 56.4%, 160.6% or 104.8% respectively
• Cruise Passengers made up 41.60% of total monthly arrivals
• The number of Cruise Ships calling on Avalon in April was 16
• 2017 had the highest number of ships calling @ 11
• 2020 and 2021 had 0 ships calling
• April 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 2,392, down from 3,068 last year or by 22.0% or 676 visitors

• 2021 had the highest passenger volume for the month @ 4,040
• 2020 had the lowest passenger volume month @ 100
• April Private Boater Passenger counts were below the three, five and ten-year averages by 19.6%, 8.5% and 15.3% respectively
• Private Boaters Made up 2.47% of total monthly arrivals

• April’s number of Vessels Anchored was up by 5.5% from last year or by 6 boats
• 2024 had the highest number of Vessels Anchored @ 115
• 2012 had the lowest number of Vessels Anchored @ 13
• April was above the three, five and ten-year averages by 20.2%, 32.8% and 43.2% respectively

• April’s number of Vessels on Moorings was down 22.0% from last year or by 169 boats
• 2021 had the highest number of Vessels on Moorings @ 1,010

• 2020 had the lowest number of Vessels on Moorings @ 25
• April was below the three, five and ten-year averages by 19.6%, 8.5% and 15.3% respectively  

 Arrivals by Air

Combined in-bound air passenger counts for April totaled 2,756, down 9.1% or 277 Arrivals from 2023.

Private Aircraft Passengers (Airport in the Sky) totaled 1,479, down 19.0% or by 348 passengers vs. last year

• 2015 had the highest volume for the month @ 1,842
• 2020 the lowest volume for the month @ 60
• April’s Private Aircraft Passenger count was below the three-year average by 9.3% but above the five and ten-year averages by 15.0%, and 15.7% respectively
• Private Aircraft Passengers made up 1.49% of total monthly arrivals

Helicopter Passenger counts totaled 1,249, up year-over-year by 8.0% or 92 arrivals

• 2015 had the highest volume for the month @ 1,888
• 2020 the lowest volume for the month @ 53
• April Helicopter Passenger counts were above the three and five-year averages by 10.5% and 5.7% respectively but below the ten-year average by 13.9%
• Helicopter Passengers made up 1.30% of total monthly arrivals

Lodging

Hotel and Short-Term Rental Occupancy from Smith Travel and AIRDNA

• Hotel Occupancy for April was down 16.3% @ 55.4% vs. 66.2% in 2023
• Hotel Occupancy was below three and ten-year averages by 15.5% and 11.0% respectively but above the five-year average by 3.9%  
• 2019 had the highest Hotel Occupancy for the month @ 8305%
• 2020 had the lowest Hotel Occupancy for the month @ 9.4%
• Statewide Hotel Room Demand was down 2% year-over-year and down 9.0% from 2019
• Statewide Hotel Occupancy for the month @ 67%, a 3.3% decrease from last year
• Short-Term Rental Occupancy for April was down 29.8% @ 40.0% vs. 57.0% in 2023
• Short-term Rental Occupancy was below the three, five and ten-year averages by 25.9%, 24.7% and 19.7% respectively  
• 2015 had the highest Short-term Rental Occupancy for the month @ 88.9%
• 2016 had the lowest Short-term Rental Occupancy for the month @ 30.0%
• Statewide Short-term Rental Occupancy was 52%, down 10% year-over-year for the month
• Among our competitive set, Hotels ranked in 10^th position or last place and Short-Term Rentals 10^th, or last 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 from Smith Travel and AIRDNA

• Hotel Average Daily Rate was down 7.8% @ $196.87 vs. $213.59 in 2023
• Short-Term Rental Average Daily Rate was up by 14.9% @ $640.00 vs. $557.00 in 2023
• Among our competitive set, Catalina ranked 9th in Average Daily Rate for Hotels and 2nd for STRs (high to low)
• Statewide Hotel Average Daily Rate was $186.00, down 3.5% over last year
• Statewide STR Average Daily Rate was up 2% @ $410.00

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

• Hotel Revenue Per Available Room was down 20.6% @ $109.13 vs. $137.39 in 2023
• Short-Term Rental Revenue Per Available Room was $283.00, down 26.5% from $385.00 in 2023
• Among our competitive set, Catalina ranked 10th for hotels and 4^th for STRs in Revenue Per Available Room (high to low)
• Statewide Hotel Revenue Per Available Room was $124.00, a 7.0% decrease from 2023
• Statewide Short Term Rental Revenue Per Available Room was $215.00, down 8% from 2023

Visitors Services

Catalina Island Visitor Center

• Walk-ins for the month were up year-over-year by 0.8% @ 2,181 vs. 2,164 in 2023
• 2018 had the highest volume for the month @ 3,443
• 2020 had the lowest volume for the month @ 0
• April walk-in counts were above the three and five-year averages of by 10.7% and 49.7% respectively

• The number of Phone Calls for the month was down by 18.3% year-over-year @ 411 vs 503
• 2007 had the highest volume of calls for the month @ 1,693
• 2021 had the lowest volume of calls for the month @ 217
• April calls were below the three, five and ten-year averages by 23.9%, 15.1% and 42.9% 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

• April LoveCatalina.com total website traffic was up year-over-year by 18.8% @ 95,000 vs 80,000 in 2023
• April total website users were below the three-year average by 1.9%, but above the five-year average by 10.4%
• Book Direct referrals were up year-over-year by 18.1% @ 16,146 vs. 12,782 in 2023 
• Book Direct lodging searches were up 26.2% @ 16,136 vs. 12,782 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 0, down from 266 in 2023
• Mail House fulfillment was up 211.5% @ 162 vs 52 in 2023
• Online Guide downloads were up 11.7% @ 515 vs. 461 in 2023
• Printed Visitor Guide orders on LoveCatalina.com @ 681, were up 28.5% from 530 last year
• 810 Visitor Guides were delivered to the Visitor Center, an increase of 3.8% over 2023 @ 780

• New E-newsletter subscribers in April were up year-over-year @ 185 vs 145 in 2023
• New subscribers for the month were above the three -year average

Social Media

Cumulative totals by platform as of April below

• Facebook followers are up year-over-year by 6.2%
• Instagram followers are up year-over-year by 31.0%
• LinkedIn followers are up year-over-year by 27.6%
• TikTok is up year-over-year by 20.1%. 
• X followers are down year-over-year by 0.3%

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 – April 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 259,981, up 1.5% from 256,120 last year
• 2024 year-to-date visitation is above the three, five and ten-year average by 0.8%, 23.9% and 9.3% 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 and AirDNA

• Hotel Occupancy January through April 2024 was down 4.0% @ 55.6% vs.57.9% tracked for the same time period in 2023
• Short-Term Rental Occupancy was 36.3%, down 15.2% from 2023 which was 42.8%
• Catalina’s average year-to-date Hotel Occupancy of 55.6% was below the YTD occupancy for all of our competing destinations
• Catalina’s average Short-Term Rental year-end Occupancy of 36.3% was below all destinations with which we compete
• Statewide Hotel Room Demand January – April was down 2% year-over-year
• Los Angeles County Hotel Room Demand for the same period was down 3% year-over-year

Year-to-date Visitor Services

Catalina Island Visitor Center

• The number of Phone Calls year-to-date are down by 17.3% @ 996 vs. 1,205 in 2023
• Year-to-date Phone Calls were below the three, five and ten-year averages by 19.6%, 17.8% and 44.1% respectively
• Number of Walk-Ins year-to-date are down @ 4,593 vs. 4,665 or 1.5%   
• Year-to-date Walk-In counts were below the three-year average by 0.2% but above the five-year average by 32.7%

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 @ 39,853 vs. 34,737 in 2023 
• Book Direct lodging searches were up by 31.1% @ 59,433 vs. 45,341 in 2023 
• LoveCatalina.com website users are up for the period by 27.0% @ 376,000 vs.296,000 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-April) are displayed below.  Measures are taken at Avalon Harbor.