March 2022

All Arrivals

March visitation increased significantly year-over-year, with March 2021 being one of the low points in visitation, Catalina saw in an overall increase by 81.8% or 36,334 visitors over the same month last year. 

Previous tracking (below) for the month of March offers a comparison without COVID-19 impacts.  March 2022’s total of 80,747 exceeded March 2019’s pre COVID-19 total arrivals of 69,692 by 11,055 visitors but is still below peaks seen in 2014 and 2015.

Passenger Counts March 22

 

All Arrivals

March’s total in-bound passenger count was above the three, five and ten-year averages of 49,403, 58,444 and 67,897 respectively. 

All arrivals


Arrivals by Sea

Passengers arriving by sea, totaled 77,339 for the month of March, up by 86.3% from last year.

Rolling
Rolling compare

  • March Cross Channel Passenger counts were up year-over-year by 41.9% or an increase of 16,362 people
  • 2022 had the highest volume for the month @ 55,368 passengers
  • 2020 had the lowest volume for the month @ 15,339.  Pre COVID-19 impacts, the lowest year for March was 2011 @ 27,397
  • March Cross Channel Passenger counts were above the three, five and ten-year averages by 51.4%, 36.6% and 22.8% respectively
  • Cross Channel Passengers made up 68.56% of total monthly arrivals

 

Cross Channel

  • Cruise passenger counts totaled 19,631
  • There were no cruise passengers in March 2021
  • 2014 had the highest Cruise Passenger volume for the month @ 32,738
  • 2021 had the lowest Cruise Passenger volume for the month @ 0.  Pre-COVID-19 the lowest count for the month was 1995 @ 4,819
  • March Cruise Passenger counts were above the three, five and ten-year averages by 127.1%, 44.3% and 8.7% respectively.  Note with two years of few/no cruise ship calls, three and five-year data sets are greatly impacted.
  • Cruise Passengers made up 24.31% of total monthly arrivals
  • The number of Cruise Ships calling on Avalon was 13
  • 2022 had the greatest number of ships @ 13
  • 2021 had the lowest number of ships @ 0, pre-COVID-19 2016 had the lowest number @ 8

 

Cruise mar 22

  • Private Boater Passenger counts were down from last year @ 2,340 vs. 2,512
  • 2015 had the highest passenger volume for the month @ 3,384
  • 2020 had the lowest passenger volume month @ 952.  Pre-COVID-19, the lowest for the month was 1,976 in 2016.
  • March Private Boater Passenger counts were above three, five and ten-year averages by 21%, 10.8% and 3.1% respectively
  • March’s number of Vessels Anchored was up @ 74 vs 34 last year
  • 2019 had the highest number of Vessels Anchored @ 94
  • 2012 had the lowest number of Vessels Anchored @ 3
  • March was above the average number of Vessels Anchored for three, five and ten-year averages by 33.7%, 12.1% and 67.4% respectively
  • March’s number of Vessels on Moorings was down from last year @ 585 vs. 628
  • 2021 had the highest number of Vessels on Moorings @ 628
  • 2020 had the lowest number of Vessels on Moorings @ 238.  Pre COVID-19, the lowest was 2016 @ 494
  • March was above the three, five and ten-year averages for Vessels on Moorings by 21%, 10.8%, 3.1%
  • Private Boaters Made up 2.9% of total monthly arrivals

private boat

 

 Arrivals by Air

Combined in-bound air passenger counts for March totaled 3,463 up from 2,940 in 2021. Rolling

  • Private Aircraft Passengers (Airport in the Sky) were up 20% @ 1,737 vs 1,448 last year
  • 2015 had the highest volume of Private Aircraft Passengers for the month @ 2,175
  • 2019 had the lowest volume of Private Aircraft Passengers for the month @ 0, due to closure for runway repairs
  • 2020 had the next lowest @ 330, due to COVID-19
  • 2011 had the lowest volume of Private Aircraft Passengers for the month when open and without COVID-19 impacts @1,086
  • March counts for Private Aircraft Passengers was above the three, five and ten-year averages by 54.4%, 48.4% and 45.4% respectively
  • March Private Aircraft Passengers made up 2.15% of total monthly arrivals

private aircraft

  • Helicopter Passenger counts were up 15.5% year-over-year @ 1,671 vs. 1,447 
  • 2022 had the highest volume for the month @ 1,671
  • 2020 had the lowest volume for the month @ 129.  Pre COVID-19 the lowest for the month was 2009 @ 718
  • March counts for Helicopter Passengers was above the three, five and ten-year averages by 80.4%, 25.5% and 20.2% respectively
  • February counts for Helicopter Passengers made up 2.07% of total monthly arrivals

heli

Lodging

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

occupancy

  • Hotel Occupancy for March was 67.4%, vs 54.7% reported in 2021
  • Short-Term Rental Occupancy for March was 56% vs 52.4% in 2021
  • March Hotel Occupancy was greater than Catalina’s in all competing destinations except Palm Springs and Santa Barbara
  • March Short-Term Rental Occupancy was greater than Catalina’s in all competing destinations 

occupancy

Occ Comp

Hotel and Short-Term Rental Average Daily Rate from Smith Travel and AIRDNA

ADR

  • March Hotel Average Daily Rate was $195.40 vs $151.89 in 2021
  • March Short-Term Rental Average Daily Rate was $539, up from $510.58 in 2021

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

revenue

  • March Hotel Revenue Per Available Room was $131.68 vs $83.05 in 2021
  • March Short-Term Rental Revenue Per Available Room was $303, up from $266 in 2021

Visitors Services

March Visitor Services were up year-over-year.

Catalina Island Visitor Center

VIC

  • Number of Phone Calls for the month was up year-over-year by 94.7% @ 619 vs. 318
  • 2007 had the highest volume for the month @ 1,815 calls
  • 2020 had the lowest volume for the month @ 310 calls.  Pre-COVID-19 lowest call volume was 2019 @ 768
  • March call counts were above the three-year average by 22% but below the five and ten-year averages of 676 and 859 respectively


VIC calls

  • The number of Walk-Ins for the month was up by 148.2% year-over-year @ 1,606 vs. 647
  • 2019 had the highest volume of Walk-ins for the month @ 2,436 guests
  • 2020 had the lowest volume of Walk-ins for the month @ 584 guests.  Pre COVID-19 lowest volume of guests was 2017 @ 1,939
  • March Walk-In counts were above the three and five-year averages of 946, and 1,500 respectively

VIC Walk Ins

LoveCatalina.com

website stats

  • March LoveCatalina.com website user numbers were up year-over-year by 11.3% @ 108,442 vs. 97,468 in 2021
  • Website users were up 21.1% from the three-year, 50.4% from the five-year and 200.8% from the ten-year averages
  • Book Direct referrals were up year-over-year by 11% @ 16,686 vs. 15,927 in 2021 
  • Note changes to Book Direct on member links has resulted in shifting traffic to referrals vs. searches.  As a result, Book Direct lodging searches were down by 1.8% @ 19,244 vs. 19,586 in 2021 but were still higher than both three and five-year averages.

Visitor Guides & Newsletters

 VIS Guide

  • Note above numbers now include Certified racks, local Visitor Center and Trade Show giveaways.  Those measures were added beginning with the initial reporting on 2022 guides as they became available.
  • Printed Visitor Guide orders @ LoveCatalina.com @ 179, down from 274 or 36.1% from last year
  • No 2021 Guide was printed and 2022 guides distribution initiated in late February
  • Online Guide downloads were down by 8.7% @ 512 vs. 561 in 2021
  • New E-blast subscribers in March were up year-over-year @ 191 vs 170 in 2021
  • New subscribers exceeded three and five-year averages

Newsletter

Social Media

Cumulative totals by platform as of February below.

Social followers

  • Facebook followers are up year-over-year by 6.0%
  • Instagram followers are up year-over-year by 22.9%
  • Twitter followers are up year-over-year by 8.6%
  • LinkedIn followers are up year-over-year by 79.1%
  • TikTok is our newest platform and is up year-over year by 4,277.9%.  TikTok has less than three years data compiled

Year-to-Date Measures

Total year-to-date arrivals are up from last year by 117.8%. 

all arrivals

  • Total Arrivals year-to-date was up @ 168,084 vs. 77,159 last year or a difference of 90,925 visitors
  • Total Arrivals year-to-date exceeded the three-year average of 125,773 by 33.6%
  • Total Arrivals year-to-date exceeded the five-year average of 144,417 by 16.4% and the ten-year average of 159,153 by 5.6%
  • All arrival sectors are up year-to-date with the exception of Private Boat

Year-to-Date—Historical Arrivals

COVID-19 and pre-Covid-19 comparison data is illustrated in the ten-year snapshot below (January, February, March combined).

Passengers

  • 2015 had the highest total visitation year-to-date @ 192,954
  • 2021 had the lowest year-to-date total visitation @ 77,159
  • 2012 had the lowest pre COVID-19 year-to-date @ 128,095

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

Year-to-date Lodging

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

Occupancy Comp

  • Hotel Occupancy YTD is 61.3% with 51.7% tracked for the same time period in 2021
  • Short-Term Rental Occupancy Year-To-Date is 44.9%, up from 42.9% in 2021
  • According to Smith Travel, YTD Catalina’s Hotel Occupancy exceeded San Francisco, Monterey and Newport Beach.  Competing destinations of Palm Springs, Santa Barbara, San Diego, Huntington Beach, Anaheim and Santa Monica exceeded our year-to-date hotel occupancy.
  • According to AirDNA, YTD Short-Term Rental Catalina’s 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

Year-to-date Visitor Services

Catalina Island Visitor Center

VIC

  • Number of Phone Calls year-to-date are up by 92.4% @ 1,516 vs. 788
  • Year-to-date Phone Calls exceeded the three-year average but remained below five and ten-year averages
  • Number of Walk-Ins year-to-date are up @ 4,549 vs. 1,177 or 286.5%   
  • Year-to-date Walk-In counts were above the three, five and ten-year averages

Year-to-date LoveCatalina.com

Lovecatalina.com

  • LoveCatalina.com website users are up year-to-date by 35.4% @ 286,202 vs. 211,346 in 2021
  • Book Direct lodging searches are down year-to-date by 3.0% @, 43,771 vs. 45,121 in 2021.  Note changes to Book Direct on member links has resulted in shifting more traffic to referrals vs. searches
  • Book Direct referrals year-to-date are up by 26.9% @ 37,311 vs. 29,397 in 2021
  • Book Direct Package referrals are not currently active on our site

Weather

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

Weather


Rainy Days

 

Explore the Island

Catalina Flyer

$10 Off Catalina Island Ferry

Onboard Catalina Flyer

Hop onboard the Catalina Flyer for daily ferry service from Newport Beach to Avalon, Catalina Island in just over 1 hour.

Catalina Adventure Tours

Submarine & Inside Land Tours

Catalina Adventure Tours

Book Direct & Save! Tours offered multiple times daily, Submarine tours depart from Green Pier & Inside Land Tours from the Mole.