December 2021 Visitor Stats

All Arrivals

Despite ongoing impacts from COVID-19 on travel, December visitation increased significantly year-over-year, resulting in an overall increase by 294% or 36,335 visitors over the same month last year. 

Previous December tracking (below) offers a comparison without COVID-19 impacts.  December 2021’s total of 48,694 fell short of December 2019’s pre COVID-19 total arrivals of 56,595.

December’s total in-bound passenger count was above the three-year average of 39,216 and was on par with the five and ten-year averages of 48,396 and 48,140 respectively. 

Arrivals by Sea

Passengers arriving by sea, including private boaters, totaled 47,018 for the month of December, up by 321.6% from last year.

• December Cross Channel Passenger counts were up year-over-year by 207.5% or an increase of 20,505 people
• 2014 had the highest volume for the month @ 39,960 passengers
• 2020 had the lowest volume for the month @ 9,883
• 2009 had the lowest volume for the month, pre-COVID-19 @ 17,593
• December Cross Channel Passenger counts were above the three, five and ten-year averages by 32.8%, 10.6% and 4.7% respectively
• Cross Channel Passengers made up 62.4% of total monthly arrivals

• Cruise passenger counts totaled 15,794
• 2005 had the highest Cruise Passenger volume for the month @ 25,612
• 2020 had the lowest Cruise Passenger volume for the month @ 0.  Pre-COVID-19 low was 2008 @ 4,662
• December Cruise Passenger counts were above the three-year average by 16.6% but below the five and ten-year averages by 11.2% and 2.4% respectively
• Cruise Passengers made up 32.4% of total monthly arrivals
• The number of Cruise Ships calling on Avalon was 9
• 2016 had the greatest number of ships @ 11
• 2020 had the lowest number of ships @ 0, pre-COVID-19 2018 had the lowest number @ 10

• Private Boater Passenger counts were down year-over-year @ 836 vs. 1,268 in 2020
• 2017 had the highest passenger volume for the month @ 2,216
• 2015 had the lowest passenger volume month @ 864
• December Private Boater Passenger counts were below the three, five and ten-year averages by 18.6%, 37.2% and 35.0% respectively
• December’s number of Vessels Anchored was up @ 80 vs. 66 last year
• 2018 had the highest number of Vessels Anchored @ 107
• 2016 had the lowest number of Vessels Anchored @ 5
• December 2021 was below the average number of Vessels Anchored for three, five and ten-year averages by 15.4%, 2.6% and 34.9% respectively
• December’s number of Vessels on Moorings was down @ 209 vs. 317 last year
• 2011 had the highest number of Vessels on Moorings @ 522
• 2013 had the lowest number of Vessels on Moorings @ 11
• December 2021 was below the three, five and ten-year averages for Vessels on Moorings by 18.6%, 37.2% and 23.0% respectively
• Private Boaters Made up 1.7% of total monthly arrivals

 Arrivals by Air

Combined in-bound air passenger counts for December totaled 1,693, up from 1,219 in 2020.

• Private Aircraft Passengers (Airport in the Sky) was up @ 1,080 from 906 last year
• 2019 had the highest volume of Private Aircraft Passengers for the month @ 1,782
• 20018 had the lowest volume of Private Aircraft Passengers for the month @ 447
• December counts for Private Aircraft Passengers was below the three and five-year averages by 14.0%, 4.0% respectively, but above the 10-year average by 20.8%
• December Private Aircraft Passengers made up 2.2% of total monthly arrivals
• Helicopter Passenger counts were up 97.4% year-over-year @ 596 vs. 302 
• 2016 had the highest volume for the month @ 998
• 2011 had the lowest volume for the month @ 459
• December counts for Helicopter Passengers was above the three-year average by 17.1% but below the five and ten-year averages of by 11.8% and 21.2% respectively
• December counts for Helicopter Passengers made up 1.2% of total monthly arrivals

Lodging

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

• Hotel Occupancy for December 2021 was 57.5%, up from 31.4% in 2020
• December 2021 Hotel Occupancy exceeded Monterey, but was below Palm Springs, San Diego, Huntington Beach, Anaheim, San Francisco and Santa Barbra in our competitive set
• Hotel Average Daily Rate was $173.38, up from $117.14 in 2020
• Hotel Revenue Per Available Room was $99.74, up from $36.74 in 2020
• Short-Term Rental Occupancy for December was 41%, up from 28% in 2020
• December 2021 Short-Term Rental Occupancy exceeded no destinations in our competitive set being below Palm Springs, Santa Barbara, San Diego, Newport Beach, Huntington Beach, Monterey, Anaheim, San Francisco and Santa Monica
• Short-Term Rental Average Daily Rate was $452.00, up from $395 in 2020
• Short-Term Rental Revenue Per Available Room was $156.00, up from $112.00 in 2020

Visitor Services

December Visitor Services were up year-over-year.

Catalina Island Visitor Center

• Number of Phone Calls for the month was up year-over-year by 166.5% @ 669 vs. 251
• 2007 had the highest volume for the month @ 1,044 calls
• 2020 had the lowest volume for the month @ 251 calls.  Pre-COVID-19 lowest call volume was 2015 @ 406
• December call counts were above the three-year average of 642 and the ten-year average of 626, but below the five-year average of 703
• Number of Walk-Ins for the month was up year-over-year @ 1,603 vs. 271   
• 2016 had the highest volume of Walk-ins for the month @ 2,366 guests
• 2020 had the lowest volume of Walk-ins for the month @ 271 guests.  Pre COVID-19 lowest volume of guests was 2018 @ 1,846
• December Walk-In counts were above the three, five and ten-year average of 1,250, 1,506 and 990 respectively

LoveCatalina.com

• December LoveCatalina.com website users were up year-over-year by 71.6% @ 56,333 vs. 32,820 in 2020
• Website users were down 1.9% from the three-year average
• Website users are down in-part due to suspension of a pay-per click campaign that is now reallocated to a co-op website instead
• Book Direct lodging searches were up year-over-year by 59.1% @, 6,320 vs. 3,972 in 2020 
• Lodging searches were down 26.8% from three-year average
• Note changes to Book Direct on member links has resulted in shifting more traffic to referrals vs. searches
• Book Direct referrals were up by 83.9% @ 5,004 vs.2,721 in 2020
• Referrals were down 17.9% from the three-year average

Visitor Guides & Newsletters

• Note above numbers do not include racks and California Welcome Center/local Visitor Center distributions
• Printed Visitor Guide orders @ LoveCatalina.com @ 21, down from 217 or 90.3% from last year
• No 2021 Guide was printed
• Online Guide downloads were up by 400% @ 230 vs.46 in 2020
• New E-blast subscribers in December were up year-over-year @ 60 vs. 35 in 2020

Social Media cumulative totals by platform as of December below.

Weather

Data for December highs, lows and precipitation going back to 2012 is displayed below. Multi-year rain days data is also displayed by year and month.  Measures are taken at Avalon Harbor.

January-December 2021 Year-End Reporting

2021 Total Arrivals

Total year-end arrivals are up from last year by 55%.  Keep in mind that current and multi-year figures include impacts of COVID-19 from present back to March 2020.

• Total Arrivals year-to-date was up @ 813,051 vs. 503,210 last year or a difference of 309,841 visitors
• Total Arrivals year-to-date exceeded the three-year average of 779,146 by 4.4%
• Total Arrivals year-to-date were below the five and ten-year averages of 898,323 and 931,152 respectively
• All arrival sectors are up year-to-date with the exception of Cruise

Historical

COVID-19 and pre-Covid-19 comparison data is illustrated below

• 2017 had the highest total visitation @ 1,097,500
• 2020 had the lowest total visitation @ 503,210
• 2012 had the lowest pre COVID-19 visitation @ 818,133
• All arrival sectors are up 2021 year-end compared to 2019 with the exception of Cruise

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

2021 Lodging

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

• Hotel Occupancy for 2021 averaged 65.1%, up from 52.1% in 2020
• 2021 Hotel Occupancy exceeded Santa Barbara, but was below Palm Springs, Newport Beach, San Diego, Huntington Beach, Anaheim, San Francisco, Monterey and Santa Monica in our competitive set
• 2121 Hotel Average Daily Rate was $212.43, up from $166.10 in 2020
• Hotel Revenue Per Available Room in 2021 was $138.38 up from $86.59 in 2020
• 2021 Short-Term Rental Occupancy averaged 59%, up from 41% in 2020
• 2021 Short-Term Rental Occupancy exceeded no destinations in our competitive set, but tied with Palm Springs
• Short-Term Rental Average Daily Rate for 2021 was $543.00, up from $506.00 in 2020
• Short-Term Rental Revenue Per Available Room in 2021 was $320.00, up from $206.00 in 2020

2021 Catalina Island Visitor Center

• Number of Phone Calls for the Year was up by 23.8% @ 8,064 vs. 6,514
• 2008 had the highest volume @ 20,077 calls
• 2013 had the lowest volume @ 3,426 calls. 
• 2021 call counts were below the three-year average of 8,659
• Number of Walk-Ins for the year was up by 282.3% @ 24,642 vs. 6,445.  In 2020 the center was closed many days due to COVID-19 restrictions and was further impacted by the lack of Cruise visitors
• 2018 had the highest volume of Walk-ins @ 49,741 guests
• 2020 had the lowest volume of Walk-ins @ 6,445 guests. 
• 2021 Walk-In counts were above the three-year average of 20,455

2021 LoveCatalina.com

• 2021 LoveCatalina.com website users were up year-over-year by 24.2% @ 1,046,220 vs. 842,140 in 2020
• Through year-end Book Direct lodging searches were up by 39.0% @, 197,184 vs. 141,909 in 2020 
• 2021 Book Direct referrals were up by 66.1% @ 186,661 vs. 112,382 in 2020

2021 Visitor Guides & Newsletters

• Printed Visitor Guide orders @ LoveCatalina.com @ 1,790 was down from 7,503 from last year.  This does not include rack or trade show distributions
• No 2021 Guide was printed
• Digital Guide downloads were up @ 5,140 vs.1,848 in 2020
• New E-blast subscribers January-December was up @ 1,555 vs. 622 in 2020