Visitor Counts

December 2023 and 2023 Year-end

All Arrivals

December visitation increased year-over-year by 12.3% or 7,783 visitors totaling 70,869 arrivals.  December 2023 total arrivals set a record for the month slightly beating last year’s high of 63,086.

December’s total in-bound passenger count was above the three, five and ten-year averages for the month by 16.4%, 40.8% and 32.5% respectively. 

Previous tracking (below) for the month of December offers a comparison with and without COVID-19 impacts (2020-2022). 

Arrivals by Sea

Passengers arriving by sea, totaled 68,961, up for the month by 12.6% from last year. 

Cross Channel Passenger counts were up 5.6%, an increase of 1,705 people

• 2014 had the highest volume for the month @ 39,960 passengers
• 2020 had the lowest volume for the month @ 9,883 passengers
• December Cross Channel Passenger counts were above the three, five and ten-year averages by 4.0%, 23.0% and 8.1% respectively
• Cross Channel Passengers made up 45.74% of total monthly arrivals

Cruise passenger counts totaled 35,030, up by 19.2% from 2022 or by 5,637 visitors

• 2023 had the highest Cruise Passenger volume for the month @ 35,030  
• 2020 had the lowest Cruise Passenger volume for the month @ 0
• December Cruise Passenger counts were above the three, five and ten-year averages by 31.0%, 66.7% and 69.6% respectively.  Note five and ten-year averages are greatly impacted by the lack of cruise ships calling during COVID-19’s suspension of operations
• Cruise Passengers made up 49.43% of total monthly arrivals
• The number of Cruise Ships calling on Avalon in December was 10
• In 2022, the number of cruise ships visiting was 9
• 2016 had the highest number of ships calling @ 11
• 2020 had 0 ships calling
• December 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 monthly data was not tracked, only annual.

Private Boaters Passenger counts totaled 1,512, up from last year by 33.1% or 376 visitors

• 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 above the three, five and ten-year averages by 30.2%, 32.0% and 23.1% respectively
• Private Boaters Made up 2.13% of total monthly arrivals
   
• December’s number of Vessels Anchored was up by 62% from last year or by 57 boats
• 2023 had the highest number of Vessels Anchored @ 149
• 2016 had the lowest number of Vessels Anchored @ 5
• December was above the three, five and ten-year averages by 39.3%, 65.9% and 97.6% respectively
   
• December’s number of Vessels on Moorings was up 33.1% from last year or by 94 boats
• 2017 had the highest number of Vessels on Moorings @ 554
• 2013 had the lowest number of Vessels on Moorings @ 11
• December was above the three, five and ten-year averages by 30.2%, 32.0% and 21.1% respectively  

 Arrivals by Air

Combined in-bound air passenger counts for December totaled 1,918, up 2.7% or 51 Arrivals from 2022.

Private Aircraft Passengers (Airport in the Sky) totaled 1,350, up 5.6% or by 7 passengers vs. last year

• 2019 had the highest volume for the month @ 1,782
• 2018 the lowest volume for the month @ 447
• December’s Private Aircraft Passenger count was above the three, five and ten-year averages by 9.2%, 5.5% and 49.7% respectively
• Private Aircraft Passengers made up 1.90% of total monthly arrivals

Helicopter Passenger counts totaled 558, down year-over-year by 1.2% or 7 arrivals

• 2016 had the highest volume for the month @ 998
• 2011 the lowest volume for the month @ 459
• November Helicopter Passenger counts were below the three, five and ten-year averages by 8.2%, 4.3% and 23.8% respectively

• Helicopter Passengers made up .80% of total monthly arrivals

Lodging

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

• Hotel Occupancy for December was down by 5.5% @ 49.6% vs. 52.5% in 2022
• Hotel Occupancy was below three and ten-year averages by 4.8% and 3.0% respectively but above the five-year average by 1.1%
• December 2019 had the highest Hotel Occupancy for the month @ 57.7%
• December 2020 had the lowest Hotel Occupancy for the month @ 31.4%
• Visit California reports statewide Hotel Occupancy for the month @57%
• Short-Term Rental Occupancy for December was down 10.5% @ 42.0% vs. 38.0% in 2022
• Short-term rental occupancy was above the three, five and ten-year averages by 4.1%, 22.5% and 24.6% respectively
• December 2023 had the highest Short-term Rental Occupancy for the month @ 42.0%
• December 2017 had the lowest Short-term Rental Occupancy for the month @ 17.2%
• Visit California reports statewide Short-term Rental Occupancy for the month  @ 51%
• Among our competitive set, Hotels and Short-Term Rental both rated 10^th, or last place in Occupancy (high to low)

Competing Destination Occupancies

• December Hotel Occupancy was higher than Catalina’s in all competing markets
• December 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

• December Hotel Average Daily Rate was up 2.0% @ $186.50 vs. $182.82 in 2022
• December Short-Term Rental Average Daily Rate was up by 0.2% @ $485.00 vs. $484.00 in 2022
• Among our competitive set, Catalina ranked 10th in Average Daily Rate for Hotels and 5th for STRs (high to low)
• Statewide Hotel Average Daily Rate was $173.00
• Statewide STR Average Daily Rate was $394.00

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

• December Hotel Revenue Per Available Room was down 6.7% @ $92.43 vs. $99.09 in 2022
• December Short-Term Rental Revenue Per Available Room was $203.00, up 10.3% from $184.00 in 2022
• Among our competitive set, Catalina ranked 10th for hotels and 2nd for STRs in Revenue Per Available Room (high to low)
• Statewide Hotel Revenue Per Available Room was $99.00
• Statewide Short Term Rental Revenue Per Available Room was $201.00

Visitors Services

Catalina Island Visitor Center

• Walk-ins for the month were up year-over-year by 42.8% @ 1,817 vs. 1,272 in 2022
• 2016 had the highest volume for the month @ 2,366
• 2020 had the lowest volume for the month @ 271
• December walk-in counts were above the three and five-year averages by 16.2% and 32.8% respectively

• The number of Phone Calls for the month was up by 6.9% year-over-year @ 386 vs 361
• 2007 had the highest volume of calls for the month @ 1,044
• 2020 had the lowest volume of calls for the month @ 251
• December calls were below the three, five and ten-year averages by 18.2%, 27.8% and 38.8% 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

• December LoveCatalina.com total website traffic was up year-over-year by 9.6% @ 57,000 vs 52,000 in 2022
• December total website users were above the three and five-year averages by 3.4% and 1.3% respectively
• Book Direct referrals were down year-over-year by 6.1% @ 4,382 vs. 4,669 in 2022 
• Book Direct lodging searches were up 12.2% @ 7,383 vs. 6,582 in 2022

Note changes to Book Direct in 2021 resulted in shifting traffic between referrals and searches

Visitor Guides & Newsletters

Note measures now include source tracking for months and years in which distributions were made by subset

• Certified racks were filled from prior months’ deliveries
• Go California Print Guide orders totaled 46, down from 106 in 2022
• Online Guide downloads were up @ 195 vs. 91 in 2022
• Printed Visitor Guide orders on LoveCatalina.com @ 198, were down from 210 last year
• No Visitor Guides were delivered to the Visitor Center

• New E-newsletter subscribers in December were up year-over-year @ 98 vs 82 in 2022
• New subscribers for the month were above the three -year average

Social Media

Cumulative totals by platform as of December below

• Facebook followers are up year-over-year by 5.3%
• Instagram followers are up year-over-year by 26.2%
• LinkedIn followers are up year-over-year by 28.3%
• TikTok is up year-over-year by 15.7%. 
• X followers are up year-over-year by 0.8%

Year-end and Historical Arrivals

COVID-19 and pre-Covid-19 comparrison data is illustrated in the snapshot above (January – December)

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

• 2023 total year-end total visitation was 1,097,341
• 2023 had the highest total visitation year-end @ 1,097,341, a difference of 2,798 visitors more than the previous record in 2023
• 2020 had the lowest year-end total visitation @ 503,210

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 December 2023 was down 4.7% @ 65.8 vs.69.0% tracked for the same time period in 2022
• Short-Term Rental Occupancy was 55.6%, down 4.4% from 58.2% in 2022
• According to Smith Travel, Catalina’s average year-end Hotel Occupancy of 65.8% was below the YTD occupancy for all of our competing destinations except for Palm Springs
• According to AirDNA, Catalina’s average Short-Term Rental year-end Occupancy of 55.6% was below all destinations in our competitive set except for Palm Springs

Year-end Visitor Services

Catalina Island Visitor Center

• The number of Phone Calls year-end are down by 17.6% @ 6,282 vs. 7,628 in 2022
• Year-end Phone Calls were below the three, five and ten-year averages by 14.2%, 21.3% and 41.2% respectively
• Number of Walk-Ins year-end are up @ 28,378 vs. 25,862 or 9.7%   
• Year-end Walk-In counts were above the three and five-year averages by 7.9% and 22.7% respectively

Year-to-date LoveCatalina.com

• Book Direct Package referrals are again active on our site tracking 275 through year-end
• Book Direct referrals are down by 27.4% @ 110,211 vs. 151,900 in 2022 
• Book Direct lodging searches were down by 14.6% @ 149,108 vs. 174,553 in 2022 
• LoveCatalina.com website users are down for 2023 by 11.7% @ 1,001,000 vs.1,133,799 in 2022

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

Data for recent highs, lows and precipitation are now being manually entered due to broken feed from the Harbor weather station. Multi-year rain days data is displayed by year and month since 2012.  Measures are taken at Avalon Harbor.