Visitor Counts

March 2025

All Arrivals

March visitation increased year-over-year by 13.1% (+9,727 visitors) with 84,005 total arrivals.

March’s total arrival count was above the three, five and ten-year averages by 8.1%, 17.3% and 22.7% respectively. Cross Channel Counts above include 1,688 arrivals at Two Harbors this year and 1,670 last year.

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

• March 2025 had the highest number of total visitors @ 84.005
• March 2020 had the lowest number of total visitors @ 23,058

Arrivals by Sea

Passengers arriving by sea in March totaled 81,801, up for the month by 13.2% from last year. 

Cross Channel Passenger counts were down 2.6%, a decrease of 1,206 people.  Cross Channel Counts above include arrivals at Two Harbors.

• 2022 had the highest volume for the month @ 55,368 passengers
• 2020 had the lowest volume for the month @ 15,339 passengers
• March Cross Channel Passenger counts were above the three and ten-year averages by 3.0% and 2.1% a respectively but below the five-year average by 0.7%
• Cross Channel Passengers made up 53.0% of total monthly arrivals

Cruise passenger counts totaled 35,622 up from 24,833 last year, an increase of 43.4% from 2024 or 10,789 visitors

• 2025 had the highest Cruise Passenger volume for the month @ 35,622 
• 2021 had the lowest Cruise Passenger volume for the month @ 0
• March Cruise Passenger counts were above the three, five and ten-year averages by 15.7%, 59.1% and 72.2% respectively
• Cruise Passengers made up 42.4% of total monthly arrivals
• The number of Cruise Ships calling on Avalon in March was 10
• 2022 had the highest number of ships calling @ 13
• 2021 had 0 ships calling

March typically has 10 ships call

• The Vessel Counts chart above is missing ten-year averages on the number of ships due to a period of time where data was only tracked annually.

Private Boater Passenger counts totaled 1,656 down by 1.7% from last year’s total of 1,684 or by 28 visitors

• 2015 had the highest passenger volume for the month @ 3,384
• 2020 had the lowest passenger volume month @ 952
• March Private Boater Passenger counts were above the three-year average by 3.0% but below the five and ten-year averages by 14.4% and 16.1% respectively
• Private Boaters made up 1.97% of total monthly arrivals

• March’s number of Vessels Anchored was down 68.8% @ 34 from 109 last year
• 2024 had the highest number of Vessels Anchored for the month @ 109
• 2012 had the lowest number of Vessels Anchored @ 3
• March was below the three, five and ten-year averages by -47.4%, 43.7% and 41.6% respectively

• March's number of Vessels on Moorings was 414, down 1.7% from last year’s 421 or by 7 boats
• 2021 had the highest number of Vessels on Moorings @ 628

• 2020 had the lowest number of Vessels on Moorings @ 236
• March was above the three-year average by 3.0% but below the five and ten-year averages by 14.4% and 16.1% respectively  

 Arrivals by Air

Combined in-bound air passenger counts for March totaled 2,231, up 8.6% or 177 Arrivals from 2,054 in 2024.

Private Aircraft Passengers (Airport in the Sky) totaled 1,128, down 0.8% or by 9 passengers vs. last year @ 1,137

• 2015 had the highest volume for the month @ 2,175
• 2019 had the lowest volume for the month @ 0
• March’s Private Aircraft Passenger count was above the three and ten-year averages by 0.6%, but below the five -year average by 13.9%
• Private Aircraft Passengers made up 1.34% of total monthly arrivals

Helicopter Passenger counts totaled 1,076 up year-over-year from 895 by 20.2% or 181 arrivals

• 2022 had the highest volume for the month @ 1,671
• 2020 had the lowest volume for the month @ 129
• Helicopter Passenger counts were above the three-year average by 15.5% but below the five and ten-year averages by 9.0% and 2.0% respectively
• Helicopter Passengers made up 1.28% of total monthly arrivals

Lodging

From Smith Travel, AIRDNA and Visit California

Hotels and Short-Term Rentals Occupancy

• Hotel Occupancy in March was up 0.3% @ 61.7% vs. 61.5% in 2024, according to Smith Travel. 
• Hotel Occupancy was above the three, five and ten-year averages by 1.4%, 1.8% and 0.9% respectively.
• 2019 had the highest Hotel Occupancy for the month @ 80.9%
• 2020 had the lowest Hotel Occupancy for the month @ 24.0%
• Statewide Hotel Occupancy for the month was not available at the time of reporting
• Nationwide Hotel Occupancy was not available at the time of reporting
• Short-Term Rental Occupancy for March was down by 14.9% @40.0% vs. 47.0% in 2024
• Short-term Rental Occupancy was below the three-year averages by 11.8% and 18.2% respectively, but above the ten-year average by 3.9%
• 2022 had the highest Short-term Rental Occupancy for the month @ 56.0%
• 2016 had the lowest Short-term Rental Occupancy for the month @ 26.1%
• Statewide Short-term Rental Occupancy was unavailable at the time of reporting
• Nationwide STR Occupancy was unavailable at the time of reporting
• Among our competitive set, Hotels and Short-Term Rentals ranked last or 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 up 2.5% @ $197.73 vs. $192.97 in 2024
• Short-Term Rental Average Daily Rate was up by 9.0% @ $711.00 vs. $642.00 in 2024
• Among our competitive set, Catalina ranked 10th (lowest) in Average Daily Rate for Hotels and 1st for STRs (high to low)
• Statewide Hotel and STR Average Daily Rate was unavailable at the time of reporting
• Nationwide Hotel  and STR Average Daily Rate was unavailable at the time of reporting

Hotel and Short-Term Rental Revenue Per Available Room

• Hotel Revenue Per Available Room was up 2.5% @ $121.91 vs. $118.88 in 2024
• Short-Term Rental Revenue Per Available Room was down 8.1% @ $285.00 vs. $310.00 in 2024
• Among our competitive set, Catalina ranked 10th (lowest) for hotels and 6th for STRs in Revenue Per Available Room (high to low)
• Statewide Hotel  and STR Revenue Per Available Room was unavailable at the time of reporting
• Nationwide Hotel and STR Revenue Per Available Room was unavailable at the time of reporting

Visitors Services

Catalina Island Visitor Center

• Mixer attendance was up year-over year at 81 vs 47 or an increase of 72.3%

• Phone Calls for the month were up 8.7% or 438 vs. 403 in 2024 but down for three, five and ten-year averages by 1.9%, 3.8% and 35.3% respectively
• Walk-ins for the month were down year-over-year by 19.1% @ 1,706 vs. 2,109 in 2024.  Walk-ins are below the three-year average by 9.3% but above the five-year average by 8.0%
• 2019 had the highest volume for the month @ 1,706
• 2020 had the lowest volume for the month @ 584

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

Google Business Stats

• March LoveCatalina.com total website traffic was up 3.7% year-over-year @ 115,063 vs. 111,000 in 2024
• March total website users were above the three and five-year averages by 13.9% and 13.0% respectively 
• Book Direct lodging referrals were up year-over-year by 11.8% @ 13,118 vs. 11,734 in 2024 
• Book Direct lodging searches were up 37.6% @ 24,820 vs. 18,035 in 2024
• Additional Google metrics are now being tracked for users opting to navigate to calls, directions, searches etc., with one year of data now in hand.

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

• Go California Printed Guide orders totaled 273, up from 78 in 2024
• Mail House fulfillment was 125 vs 1,166 in 2024
• Online Guide downloads were up 3.1% @ 667 vs. 647 in 2024
• Printed Visitor Guide orders on LoveCatalina.com @ 707 were down 24.3% from 934 last year
• Trade Show distribution was 672 this year vs 702 in 2024, down 4.3%
• Visitor Guides delivered to the Visitor Center totaled 1,200, up from 0 last year

• New E-newsletter subscribers in March were down year-over-year @ 152 vs 199
• New subscribers for the month were below the three and five-year averages

Social Media

Cumulative totals by platform as of March below

• Facebook followers are up year-over-year by 5.4%
• Instagram followers are up year-over-year by 31.2%
• LinkedIn followers are up year-over-year by 22.1%
• Threads followers are up by 68.7%
• TikTok followers are up year-over-year by 15.6%. 
• X followers are down year over-year by 2.9%

Trip Origination
Placer.AI

All Placer.AI data below is presented in descending order

• The top five states from which Catalina’s March overnight visitors originated were California, Nevada, Arizona, Texas and Massachusetts (highest to lowest)
• The top five cities/DMAs of origination based on number of overnight visitor trips made to the island in March were Los Angeles, San Diego, Riverside/San Bernardino, San Jose and San Francisco (highest to lowest)
• The top five DMAs in nights generated were Los Angeles, San Diego, Riverside, San Jose and San Francisco (highest to lowest)
• The top five most visitors per zip code were 93117 (Santa Barbara, 92592 (Temecula), 92064 (San Diego), 92025 (Glendora) and 91381 (Santa Clarita)    
• Top five cities ranked by daily spending potential were San Jose @ $312.30, San Francisco @ $305.60, Seattle @ $271.80, New York @ $257.60 and Denver@ $250.80

Weather

Weather

High, low and rain days for March (multiple years).

Multi-year counts of rain days for the month of March Measures are taken at Avalon Harbor. 

Quarterly Reporting

 Year-to-date and Historical Arrivals

Data above is for January – March of each year.

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

• 2025 year-to-date total visitation is 186,997 up 14.3% from 163,539last year
• 2025 year-to-date visitation is above the three, five and ten-year average by 7.3%, 21.7% and 16.6% respectively.

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

Quarterly

Year-to-date Lodging

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

• Hotel Occupancy January through March 2025 is up 6.1% @ 56.3% vs. 53.1% tracked for the same time period in 2024
• Short-Term Rental Occupancy was 30.9%, down 11.8% from 2024 which was 35.0%
• Catalina’s average year-to-date Hotel Occupancy of 56.3% was below the YTD occupancy for all ten competing destinations
• Year-to-date statewide Hotel Occupancy was unavailable at the time of reporting
• National year-to-date hotel occupancy was unavailable at the time of reporting
• Catalina’s average Short-Term Rental year-to date Occupancy of 30.9% was below all destinations in our competitive set
• Year-to-date statewide Short-Term Rental Occupancy was not reported

Quarterly

Year-to-date Visitor & Member Services

• The number of Mixer attendees was up 25.7% year-to-date @ 186 vs. 148 in 2024
• The number of Phone Calls year-to-date are down by 9.9% @ 897 vs. 996 in 2024
• Year-to-date Phone Calls were below the three, five and ten-year averages by 13.1%, 17.0% and 43.9% respectively
• The Number of Walk-Ins year-to-date are down @ 3,781 vs. 4,593 or 17.7%  
• Year-to-date Walk-In counts were below the three and five-year averages by 13.0% and 0.7% respectively

Quarterly

Year-to-date

LoveCatalina.com

• Book Direct Packages were not active year-to date
• Book Direct referrals are up by 4.7% year-to-date @ 29,584 vs. 28,256 in 2024 
• Book Direct lodging searches were up by 34.5% @ 58,217 vs. 43,297 in 2024 
• Calls connecting from LoveCatalina.com were down 23.8% from last year
• Links to directions on LoveCatalina.com were down 17.1% from last year
• Business profile views were up 6.5% from last year
• Searches made on LoveCatalina.com were down 70.2% from last year
• Website Users were down 19.1% from last year
• Visits to other websites from LoveCatalina.com were down 18.0% from last year

Note:  Google’s implementation of Gemini is seen as impacting traditional website performance,  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.  Newer measures do not yet have multi-year tracking to report.

Quarterly

Year-to-date Weather

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