Visitor Counts

February 2024

All ArrivalsFebruary visitation decreased year-over-year by 26.5% or 14,947 visitors with 41,366 arrivals.

February’s total in-bound passenger count was below the three, five and ten-year averages for the month by 14.9%, 7.8% and 16.5% respectively.  The declines for February exceeded the growth reported in January.

Previous tracking (below) for the month of February offers a comparison with and without COVID-19 impacts

Arrivals by Sea

Passengers arriving by sea, totaled 39,926, down for the month by 26.2% from last year. 

Cross Channel Passenger counts were down 6.0%, a decrease of 1,546 people

• 2016 had the highest volume for the month @ 39,162 passengers
• 1998 had the lowest volume for the month @ 15,517 passengers
• February Cross Channel Passenger counts were below the three, five and ten-year averages by 16.0%, 12.9% and 16.7% respectively
• Cross Channel Passengers made up 58.63% of total monthly arrivals

Cruise passenger counts totaled 14,746, down by 45.7% from 2023 or by 12,420 visitors

• 2023 had the highest Cruise Passenger volume for the month @ 27,166  
• 2021 had the lowest Cruise Passenger volume for the month @ 0
• February Cruise Passenger counts were below the three and ten-year averages by 10.4% 13.3and 21.9% respectively, but above the three-year average by 7.1%. 
• Cruise Passengers made up 35.65% of total monthly arrivals
• The number of Cruise Ships calling on Avalon in February was 5
• In 2023, the number of cruise ships visiting was 10
• 2023 had the highest number of ships calling @ 10
• 2021 had 0 ships calling
• February typically has 8 ships call on us
• In February 2024, 1 ship canceled and 1 ship departed early due to weather
• In 2023 we had calls from Royal Caribbean (2), Celebrity (2) and Disney (1), which did not occure in 2024
• 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 Boaters Passenger counts totaled 928, down from last year by 17.4% or 196 visitors

• 2014 had the highest passenger volume for the month @ 1,976
• 2016 had the lowest passenger volume month @ 736
• February Private Boater Passenger counts were below the three, five and ten-year averages by 11.5%, 25.6% and 32.8% respectively
• Private Boaters Made up 2.24% of total monthly arrivals
• February’s number of Vessels Anchored was up by 21.3% from last year or by 13 boats
• 2019 had the highest number of Vessels Anchored @ 110
• 2012 had the lowest number of Vessels Anchored @ 13
• February was above the three, five and ten-year averages by 27.6%, 54.0% and 48.4% respectively
• February’s number of Vessels on Moorings was down 17.4% from last year or by 49 boats
• 2016 had the highest number of Vessels on Moorings @ 559
• 2017 had the lowest number of Vessels on Moorings @ 157
• February was below the three, five and ten-year averages by 11.5%, 25.6% and 32.8% respectively  

 Arrivals by Air

Combined in-bound air passenger counts for February totaled 1,455, down 34.9% or 780 Arrivals from 2023.

Private Aircraft Passengers (Airport in the Sky) totaled 681, down 50.4% or by 693 passengers vs. last year

• 2016 had the highest volume for the month @ 2,133
• 2019 the lowest volume for the month @ 0, due to airport construction
• February’s Private Aircraft Passenger count was below the three, five and ten-year averages by 49.0%, 48.8% and 43.2% respectively
• Private Aircraft Passengers made up 1.65% of total monthly arrivals

Helicopter Passenger counts totaled 758, down year-over-year by 10.8% or 92 arrivals

• 2018 had the highest volume for the month @ 1,399
• 2020 the lowest volume for the month @ 0
• February Helicopter Passenger counts were below the three and ten-year averages by 14.9% and 12.9% respectively but above the five-year average by 12.2%
• Helicopter Passengers made up 1.83% of total monthly arrivals

Lodging

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

• Hotel Occupancy for February was down by 7.4% @ 52.3% vs. 56.5% in 2023
• Hotel Occupancy was below three, five and ten-year averages by 11.3%, 11.9 and 18.6% respectively
• February 2019 had the highest Hotel Occupancy for the month @ 75.9%
• February 2024 had the lowest Hotel Occupancy for the month @ 52.3%
• Visit California reports statewide Hotel Occupancy for the month @63.1%, down 3.8% from 2023
• Short-Term Rental Occupancy for February was down 6.3% @ 30.0% vs. 32.0% in 2023
• Short-term rental occupancy was below the three, five and ten-year averages by 26.2%, 29.4% and 25.7% respectively
• 2022 had the highest Short-term Rental Occupancy for the month @ 60.0%
• 2016 had the lowest Short-term Rental Occupancy for the month @ 26.1%
• Visit California did not report statewide Short-term Rental Occupancy for the month
• Among our competitive set, Hotels and Short-Term Rental both rated 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 up 1.7% @ $189.60 vs. $186.49 in 2023
• Short-Term Rental Average Daily Rate was up by 1.5% @ $549.00 vs. $541.00 in 2023
• Among our competitive set, Catalina ranked 10th in Average Daily Rate for Hotels and 1st for STRs (high to low)
• Statewide Hotel Average Daily Rate was $181.00 down 0.4% from 2023
• Statewide STR Average Daily Rate was not reported

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

• Hotel Revenue Per Available Room was down 6.0% @ $99.10 vs. $105.39 in 2023
• Short-Term Rental Revenue Per Available Room was $162, down 6.9% from $174.00 in 2023
• Among our competitive set, Catalina ranked 10th for hotels and 1st for STRs in Revenue Per Available Room (high to low)
• Statewide Hotel Revenue Per Available Room was $114.66, down 4.2% from 2023
• Statewide Short Term Rental Revenue Per Available Room was not reported

Visitors Services

Catalina Island Visitor Center

• Walk-ins for the month were down year-over-year by 32.3% @ 1,153 vs. 1,704 in 2023
• 2023 had the highest volume for the month @ 1,704
• 2021 had the lowest volume for the month @ 528
• February walk-in counts were below the three and five-year averages of by 21.9% and 2.8% respectively

• The number of Phone Calls for the month was down by 15.7% year-over-year @ 291 vs 345
• 2007 had the highest volume of calls for the month @ 1,256
• 2021 had the lowest volume of calls for the month @ 256
• February calls were below the three, five and ten-year averages by 24.2%, 24.5% and 49.6% 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

• February LoveCatalina.com total website traffic was up year-over-year by 20.9% @ 81,000 vs 67,000 in 2023
• February total website users were above the three and five-year averages by 2.1% and 1.7% respectively
• Book Direct referrals were up year-over-year by 3.9% @ 8,203 vs. 7,898 in 2023 
• Book Direct lodging searches were up 11.2% @ 11,558 vs. 10,394 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

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 76, down from 300 in 2023
• Mail House fulfillment was up @ 3,167 vs 260 in 2023
• Online Guide downloads were up @ 443 vs. 193 in 2023
• Printed Visitor Guide orders on LoveCatalina.com @ 760, were up from 383 last year
• 1,080 Visitor Guides were delivered to the Visitor Center

• New E-newsletter subscribers in February were up year-over-year @ 167 vs 110 in 2023
• New subscribers for the month were above the three -year average

Social Media

Cumulative totals by platform as of February below

• Facebook followers are up year-over-year by 5.9%
• Instagram followers are up year-over-year by 26.3%
• LinkedIn followers are up year-over-year by 28.7%
• TikTok is up year-over-year by 15.2%. 
• X followers are flat year-over-year

Year-to-date and Historical Arrivals

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

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

• 2024 year-to-date total visitation is 89,261, down 8.7% from 97,750 last year
• 2024 year-to-date visitation is below the three and ten-year totals by 2.4% and 3.5% respectively, but above the five-year average by 7.3%

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 February 2024 was down 2.4% @ 51.7 vs.52.9% tracked for the same time period in 2023
• Short-Term Rental Occupancy was 29.0%, down 10.8% from 2023 @ 32.5%
• According to Smith Travel, Catalina’s average year-to-date Hotel Occupancy of 51.7% was below the YTD occupancy for all of our competing destinations with the exception of Monterey (equal)
• According to AirDNA, Catalina’s average Short-Term Rental year-end Occupancy of 29.0% was below all destinations in our competitive set

Year-to-date Visitor Services

Catalina Island Visitor Center

• The number of Phone Calls year-to-date are down by 16.1% @ 593 vs. 707 in 2023
• Year-to-date Phone Calls were below the three, five and ten-year averages by 19.0%, 18.5% and 42.2% respectively
• Number of Walk-Ins year-to-date are down @ 2,484 vs. 2,835 or 12.4%   
• Year-to-date Walk-In counts were below the three-year average by 9.8% but above the five-year average by 17.9%

Year-to-date LoveCatalina.com

• Book Direct Package referrals were not active this reporting period
• Book Direct referrals are up by 5.4% year-to-date @ 16,522 vs. 15,673 in 2023 
• Book Direct lodging searches were up by 19.0% @ 25,262 vs. 21,229 in 2023 
• LoveCatalina.com website users are up for the period by 22.3% @ 170,000 vs.139,000 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-February) are displayed below.  Measures are taken at Avalon Harbor.