January 2022

All Arrivals

January visitation increased significantly year-over-year, with January 2021 being one of the extreme low points in visitation, Catalina saw an overall increase by 272.8% or 28,700 visitors over the same month last year. 

Previous tracking (below) for the month of January offers a comparison without COVID-19 impacts.  January 2022’s total of 39,221 fell short of January 2020’s pre COVID-19 total arrivals of 52,691by 13,470 visitors.

January’s total in-bound passenger count was above the three-year average of 34,144 and was nearly on par with the five and ten-year averages of 40,762 and 42,115 respectively. 

Arrivals by Sea

Passengers arriving by sea, totaled 36,467 for the month of January, up by 303% from last year.

• January Cross Channel Passenger counts were up year-over-year by 238.8% or an increase of 17,811 people
• 2018 had the highest volume for the month @ 27,774 passengers
• 2008 had the lowest volume for the month @ 15,860
• January Cross Channel Passenger counts were above the three, five and ten-year averages by 26.7%, 10.9% and 10.4% respectively
• Cross Channel Passengers made up 64.43% of total monthly arrivals

• Cruise passenger counts totaled 9,654
• 2010 had the highest Cruise Passenger volume for the month @ 24,444
• 2021 had the lowest Cruise Passenger volume for the month @ 0.  Pre-COVID-19 the lowest count for the month was 1995 @1,038
• January Cruise Passenger counts were below the three, five and ten-year averages by 8.8%, 34.1% and 39.3% respectively
• Cruise Passengers made up 24.6% of total monthly arrivals
• The number of Cruise Ships calling on Avalon was 10
• 2017 had the greatest number of ships @ 11
• 2021 had the lowest number of ships @ 0, pre-COVID-19 2016 had the lowest number @ 6

• Private Boater Passenger counts were down slightly year-over-year @ 1,544 vs. 1,592 in 2021
• 2014 had the highest passenger volume for the month @ 1,976
• 2017 had the lowest passenger volume month @ 928
• January Private Boater Passenger counts were on par with the three-year average, and above the five and ten-year averages by 2.4% and 10.6% respectively
• January’s number of Vessels Anchored was up @ 42 vs. 35 last year
• 2019 had the highest number of Vessels Anchored @ 110
• 2012 had the lowest number of Vessels Anchored @ 13
• January was below the average number of Vessels Anchored for three, five and ten-year averages by 21.2%, 35.2% and 14.3% respectively
• January’s number of Vessels on Moorings was down @ 386 vs. 398 last year
• 2014 had the highest number of Vessels on Moorings @ 494
• 2016 had the lowest number of Vessels on Moorings @ 184
• January was on par with the three-year average but above the five and ten-year averages for Vessels on Moorings by 2.4% and 10.6% respectively
• Private Boaters Made up 3.94% of total monthly arrivals

 Arrivals by Air

Combined in-bound air passenger counts for January totaled 2,801 up from 1,482 in 2021.

• Private Aircraft Passengers (Airport in the Sky) was up @ 1,767 from 984 last year
• 2014 had the highest volume of Private Aircraft Passengers for the month @ 1,785
• 2019 had the lowest volume of Private Aircraft Passengers for the month @ 0, due to closure for runway repairs
• January counts for Private Aircraft Passengers was above the three, five and ten-year averages by 26.9%, 63.2% and 13.98% respectively
• January Private Aircraft Passengers made up 4.5% of total monthly arrivals
• Helicopter Passenger counts were up 102.7% year-over-year @ 987 vs. 487 
• 2022 had the highest volume for the month @ 987
• 2012 had the lowest volume for the month @ 539
• January counts for Helicopter Passengers was above the three, five and ten-year averages by 45.1%, 32.2% and 34.4% respectively
• January counts for Helicopter Passengers made up 2.52% of total monthly arrivals

Lodging

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

• Hotel Occupancy for January was 49.7%, vs no data reported in 2021and 62.7% in 2020
• January Hotel Occupancy exceeded San Francisco, Monterey and Newport Beach among our competing destinations
• Hotel Average Daily Rate was $161.78 vs no data reported in 2021 and up from $142.55 in 2020
• Hotel Revenue Per Available Room was $80.21 vs no data reported in 2021 and down from $89.32 in 2020
• Short-Term Rental Occupancy for January was 21%, down from 35% in 2021and 24% in 2020
• January 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.  All competing destinations had occupancy above 43%.
• Short-Term Rental Average Daily Rate was $440.00, up from $424 in 2021 and $427 in 2020
• Short-Term Rental Revenue Per Available Room was $95.00, down from $149.00 in 2021 and $101 in 2020

Visitor Services

January Visitor Services were up year-over-year.

Catalina Island Visitor Center

• Number of Phone Calls for the month was up year-over-year by 78% @ 381 vs. 214
• 2012 had the highest volume for the month @ 1,131 calls
• 2021 had the lowest volume for the month @ 214 calls.  Pre-COVID-19 lowest call volume was 2017 @ 440
• January call counts were above the three-year average of 349 but below the five and ten-year averages of 418 and 524 respectively
• Number of Walk-Ins for the month was up year-over-year @ 1,370 vs. 2, when the center was operating under extreme COVID-19 precautions   
• 2017 had the highest volume of Walk-ins for the month @ 1,703 guests
• 2021 had the lowest volume of Walk-ins for the month @ 2 guests.  Pre COVID-19 lowest volume of guests was 2020 @ 765
• January Walk-In counts were above the three and five-year average of 712 and 880 respectively

LoveCatalina.com

• January LoveCatalina.com website users were up year-over-year by 118.1% @ 87,851 vs. 40,274 in 2021
• Website users were up 21.2% from the three-year average
• Website users are up despite suspension of a pay-per click campaign that is now reallocated to a co-op website
• Book Direct referrals were up year-over-year by 146.1% @ 9,328 vs. 3,791 in 2021 
• Referrals were up 8.3% from the three-year average
• Note changes to Book Direct on member links has resulted in shifting traffic to referrals vs. searches
• Book Direct lodging searches were up by 76.7% @ 11,246 vs. 6,363 in 2021
• Lodging searches were up 21.2% from the three-year average

Visitor Guides & Newsletters

• Note above numbers do not include racks and California Welcome Center/local Visitor Center distributions or trade show giveaways
• Printed Visitor Guide orders @ LoveCatalina.com @ 36, down from 218 or 83.5% from last year
• No 2021 Guide was printed, 2022 guides will be distributed beginning in late February
• Online Guide downloads were up by 598% @ 356 vs. 51 in 2021
• New E-blast subscribers in January were up year-over-year @ 162 vs. 47 in 2021
• New subscribers exceeded three and five-year averages

Social Media cumulative totals by platform as of January below.

• Facebook followers are up year-over-year by 7.1%
• Instagram followers are up year-over-year by 34.8%
• Twitter followers are up year-over-year by 8.7%
• Linkedin and TikTok are newer platforms for us, but are both growing and up year-over year 48.9% and 1,560%
• TikTok has less than three years data compiled

Weather

Data for January highs, lows and precipitation going back to 2013 is displayed below. Multi-year rain days data is also displayed by year and month since 2012.  Measures are taken at Avalon Harbor.