Visitor Counts

December 2024

December visitation increased year-over-year by 0.7% or 485 visitors with 71,354 total arrivals.

December’s total arrival count was above the three, five and ten-year averages by 4.3%, 33.9% and 28.2% respectively. Cross Channel Counts above include 818 arrivals at Two Harbors this year and 885 last year.

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

Arrivals by Sea

Passengers arriving by sea in December totaled 69,903, down for the month by 1.4% from last year. 

Cross Channel Passenger counts were up 3.6%, an increase of 1,154people.  Cross Channel Counts above include arrivals at Two Harbors.

• 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 4.1%, 22.5% and 14.3% respectively
• Cross Channel Passengers made up 47.05% of total monthly arrivals

Cruise passenger counts totaled 35,169, up from 35,030 last year.  That’s an increase of 0.4% from 2023 or by 139 visitors.

• 2024 had the highest Cruise Passenger volume for the month @ 35,169 
• 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 5.90%, 52.40% and 50.41% respectively
• Cruise Passengers made up 49.29% of total monthly arrivals
• The number of Cruise Ships calling on Avalon in December was 10
• 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 data was only tracked annually.

Private Boater Passenger counts totaled 1,161, down by 23.2% from 1,512 last year or by 351 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 below the three, five and ten-year averages by 8.6%, 1.8% and 6.0% respectively
• Private Boaters made up 1.63% of total monthly arrivals
• December’s number of Vessels Anchored was even with last year @ 149 boats
• 2023 and 24 had the highest number of Vessels Anchored @ 149
• 2016 had the lowest number of Vessels Anchored @ 11
• December was above the three, five and ten-year averages by 14.6%, 39.0% and 75.9% respectively
• December’s number of Vessels on Moorings was down 13.5% from last year or by 51 boats
• 2017 had the highest number of Vessels on Moorings @ 554
• 2013 had the lowest number of Vessels on Moorings @ 11
• December was below the three-year average by 0.8% but above the five and ten-year averages by 7.9% and 14.7% respectively 

 Arrivals by Air

Combined in-bound air passenger counts for December totaled 1,469, down 23.9% or 458 Arrivals from 2023.

Private Aircraft Passengers (Airport in the Sky) totaled 978, down 27.6% or by 372 passengers vs. last year.

• 2019 had the highest volume for the month @ 1,782
• 2018 had the lowest volume for the month @ 447
• December’s Private Aircraft Passenger count was below the three, five and ten-year averages by 18.6%, 12.6% and 2.2% respectively
• Private Aircraft Passengers made up 1.37% of total monthly arrivals

Helicopter Passenger counts totaled 473 down year-over-year by 15.2% or 85 arrivals

• 2016 had the highest volume for the month @ 998
• 2011 had the lowest volume for the month @ 459
• Helicopter Passenger counts were below the three, five and ten-year averages by 11.1%, 5.2% and 31.9% respectively
• Helicopter Passengers made up .66% of total monthly arrivals

Lodging

From Smith Travel, AIRDNA and Visit California

Hotels and Short-Term Rentals Occupancy

• Hotel Occupancy for December was down 3.2% @ 48.1% vs. 49.7% in 2023
• Hotel Occupancy was below the three and ten-year averages by 16.2% and 14.1% respectively, but above the five-year average by 1.9%
• 2018 had the highest monthly Hotel Occupancy for the month @ 67.6%
• 2020 had the lowest monthly Hotel Occupancy for the month @ 31.4%
• Statewide Hotel Occupancy for the month was 57.9%, up 0.7% from 2023
• Nationwide Hotel Occupancy was 53.2% for the month
• Short-Term Rental Occupancy for December was down by 26.2% @31.0% vs. 42.0% in 2023
• Short-term Rental Occupancy was below the three, five and ten-year averages by 16.2, 14.1% and 7.3% respectively
• 2015 had the highest Short-term Rental Occupancy for the month @ 48.3%
• 2017 had the lowest Short-term Rental Occupancy for the month @ 17.2%
• Statewide Short-term Rental Occupancy was 51.0% down 3% from last year
• Nationwide STR Occupancy was 48% for the month, down 2% from last year
• Among our competitive set, both Hotels and Short-Term Rentals ranked last (10th) 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

• Hotel Average Daily Rate was down 4.6% @ $177.85 vs. $186.50 in 2023
• Short-Term Rental Average Daily Rate was up by 36.7% @ $663.00 vs. $485.00 in 2023
• Among our competitive set, Catalina ranked 10th (lowest) in Average Daily Rate for Hotels and 1st for STRs (high to low)
• Statewide Hotel Average Daily Rate was $173.36
• Nationwide Hotel Average Daily Rate was $156.63
• Statewide STR Average Daily Rate was $405.00, an increase of 4% over 2023
• Nationwide STR Average Daily Rate was $328.00, an increase of 3% over 2023

Hotel and Short-Term Rental Revenue Per Available Room

• Hotel Revenue Per Available Room was down 7.8% @ $85.58 vs. $92.87 in 2023
• Short-Term Rental Revenue Per Available Room was up 1.0% @ $205.00 vs. $203.00 in 2023
• Among our competitive set, Catalina ranked 10th (lowest) for hotels and 6th for STRs in Revenue Per Available Room (high to low)
• Statewide Hotel Revenue Per Available Room was $100.31
• Nationwide Hotel Revenue Per Available Room was $83.30
• Statewide Short Term Rental Revenue Per Available Room was $207.00, up 1% from 2023
• Nationwide Short Term Rental Revenue Per Available Room was $158.00. up 1% from 2023

Visitors Services

Catalina Island Visitor Center

• Walk-ins for the month were down year-over-year by 14.0% @ 1,562 vs. 1,817 in 2023
• 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 0.8% and 19.7% respectively

• The number of Phone Calls for the month was up by 22.8% year-over-year @ 474 vs 386
• 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 above the three and five-year averages by 16.5% and 10.7% respectively, but below the ten-year average by 23.2%

Increased use of online and mobile self-help tools for reservations and research are being seen as the main reasons for periods with declining calls

LoveCatalina.com

• December LoveCatalina.com total website traffic was down 10.5% year-over-year @ 51,000 vs. 57,000 in 2023
• December total website users were below the three-year average by 4.4% and above the five-year average by 2.3% 
• Book Direct lodging searches were up year-over-year by 78.6% @ 13,183 vs. 7,383 in 2023 
• Book Direct lodging referrals were up 39.8% @ 6,124 vs. 4,382 in 2023

Note changes to Book Direct in 2021 resulted in shifting traffic between referrals and searches.  New Google metrics inhibits ten-year reporting in our software.

Visitor Guides & Newsletters

• Certified racks had no new deliveries this month nor for the same month last year
• Go California Print Guide orders totaled 0, down from 46 in 2023
• Mail House fulfillment was 0 due to lack of inventory.  2025 Guides will be sent upon arrival
• Online Guide downloads were up 16.9% @ 228 vs. 195 in 2023
• Printed Visitor Guide orders on LoveCatalina.com @ 246, were up 24.2% from 198 last year

• New E-newsletter subscribers in December were down year-over-year @ 84 vs 98
• New subscribers for the month were below the three-year but above the five-year average.

Social Media

Cumulative totals by platform as of December below

• Facebook followers are up year-over-year by 6.2%
• Instagram followers are up year-over-year by 33.9%
• LinkedIn followers are up year-over-year by 21.3%
• Threads followers are up by 98.4%
• TikTok followers are up year-over-year by 17.1%. 
• X followers are up down year over-year by 2.3%

Trip Origination
Placer.AI

All Placer.AI data below is presented in descending order

• The top five states from which Catalina’s December visitors originated were California, Arizona, Texas, Nevada and Utah
• The top five cities/DMAs of origination based on number of visitor trips made to the island in December were Los Angeles, San Diego, Riverside, Ventura and San Francisco
• The top five cities/DMAs for longest trip duration in December were Riverside CA, Clearfield UT, Ventura CA, Walnut/Diamond Bar, Las Vegas
• Top disposable income was from visitors were not available at the time of reporting

Year-to-date and Historical Arrivals

Data above is for January – December of each year.

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

• 2024 Arrivals totaled 1,140,167  up 3.9% from 1,097,341 last year
• 2024 total Arrivals set a record for the highest volume of visitors in a year
• 2020 had the lowest number of Arrivals @ 503,210
• 2024 total visitation is above the three, five and ten-year averages by 2.7%, 22.6% and 14.6% respectively.

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

Year-end Lodging

Hotel and Short-Term Rental Occupancy from Smith Travel, AirDNA and Visit California

• Hotel Occupancy for 2024 is down 0.4 % @ 63.8% vs. 64.01% tracked for 2023
• Short-Term Rental Occupancy was 47.3%, down 11.1% from 2023 which was 53.3%
• Catalina’s average year-end total Hotel Occupancy of 63.8% was below the occupancy for nine of our ten competing destinations
• Year-end statewide Hotel Occupancy was 67%, down 0.1 from last year
• National year-end hotel occupancy was 63%, equal to last year
• Catalina’s average Short-Term Rental year-end Occupancy of 47.33% was below all destinations in our competitive set
• Year-end statewide Short-Term Rental Occupancy was not reported

Year-to-date Visitor Services

Catalina Island Visitor Center

• The number of Phone Calls as of year-end are down by 18.1% @ 5,148 vs. 6,282 in 2023
• Year-end total Phone Calls were below the three, five and ten-year averages by 19.0%, 23.5% and 46.4% respectively
• The Number of Walk-Ins year-to-date are down @ 25,767 vs. 28,378 or by 9.2%  
• Year-to-date Walk-In counts were below the three-year average by 3.4% but above the five-year average by 16.0%

Year-to-date LoveCatalina.com

• Book Direct Package referrals were not active in 2024
• Book Direct referrals were up by 29.7% year-end @ 142,897 vs. 110,211 in 2023 
• Book Direct lodging searches were up by 52.2% @ 225,915 vs. 149, 108 in 2023 
• LoveCatalina.com website users are up for the year by 7.2% @ 1,073,000 vs. 1,001,000 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

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Weather

High, low and rain days for December 2024. 

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