Visitor Counts

May 2025

All Arrivals

May visitation increased year-over-year by 0.5% with 109,375 total arrivals

May’s total arrival count was above the three, five and ten-year averages by 4.7%, 11.5% and 28.7% respectively. Cross Channel Counts above include 2,920 arrivals at Two Harbors this year and 2,414 last year

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

• May 2025 had the highest number of total visitors @ 1109,375
• May 2020 had the lowest number of total visitors @ 7,017

Arrivals by Sea

Passengers arriving by sea in May totaled 106,385, nearly flat for the month compared to last year.

Cross Channel Passenger counts were up 2.7%, an increase of 1,842 people.  Cross Channel Counts above include arrivals at Two Harbors.

• 1997 had the highest volume for the month @ 73,288 passengers
• 2020 had the lowest volume for the month @ 4,571 passengers
• May Cross Channel Passenger counts were above the three, five and ten-year averages by 6.0%, 3.3% and 19.6% respectively
• Cross Channel Passengers made up 63.13% of total monthly arrivals

Cruise passenger counts totaled 32,678, down from 34,694 last year by 5.8% or 2,016 visitors

• 2009 had the highest Cruise Passenger volume for the month @ 51,141
• 2020 had the lowest Cruise Passenger volume for the month @ 0
• May  Cruise Passenger counts were above the three, five and ten-year averages by 0.9%, 37.3% and 60.8% respectively
• Cruise Passengers made up 29.88% of total monthly arrivals

• The number of Cruise Ships calling on Avalon in May was 10
• 2017 had the highest number of ships calling @ 11
• 2020 and 2021 had 0 ships calling

May 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 4,656 up by 3.4% from last year’s total of 4,504

• 2014 had the highest passenger volume for the month @ 5,012
• 2020 had the lowest passenger volume month @ 1,704
• May Private Boater Passenger counts were above the three, five and ten-year averages by 4.7%, 0.9% and 8.9% respectively
• Private Boaters made up 4.25% of total monthly arrivals

• May’s number of Vessels Anchored was down 44.2% @ 87 from 156 last year
• 2023 had the highest number of Vessels Anchored for the month @ 157
• 2013 had the lowest number of Vessels Anchored @ 13
• May was below the three, five and ten-year averages by 34.7%, 20.2% and 8.1% respectively

• May's number of Vessels on Moorings was 1,164, up 3.4% from last year’s 1,126
• 2014 had the highest number of Vessels on Moorings @ 1,253

• 2020 had the lowest number of Vessels on Moorings @ 426
• May was above the three, five and ten-year averages by 4.7%, 1.0% and 8.9% respectively

  Arrivals by Air

Combined in-bound air passenger counts for May totaled 3,017, up by 24.4% from 2,426 in 2024

Private Aircraft Passengers (Airport in the Sky) totaled 1,095, up 113.5% vs. last year @ 513

• 2014 had the highest volume for the month @ 1,818
• 2020 had the lowest volume for the month @ 651
• May’s Private Aircraft Passenger count was above the three, five and ten-year averages by 38.8%, 7.5% and 9.6% respectively
• Private Aircraft Passengers made up 1.00% of total monthly arrivals

Helicopter Passenger counts totaled 1,895, even year-over-year 2024

• 2021 had the highest volume for the month @ 1,997
• 2020 had the lowest volume for the month @ 91
• Helicopter Passenger counts were above the three, five and ten-year averages by 8.6%, 5.1% and 17.3% respectively
• Helicopter Passengers made up 1.73% of total monthly arrivals

Lodging

From Smith Travel, AIRDNA and Visit California

Hotels and Short-Term Rentals Occupancy

• Hotel Occupancy in May was up 8.5% @ 74.4% vs. 68.6% in 2024, according to Smith Travel. 
• Hotel Occupancy was above the three and five-year averages by 7.3%.  Ten year data is not currently available.
• 2019 had the highest Hotel Occupancy for the month @ 77.1%
• 2020 had the lowest Hotel Occupancy for the month @ 14.6%
• Statewide Hotel Occupancy for the month was 70%, up 1.6% from May 2024
• Nationwide Hotel Occupancy was 65%, up 0.7% from last year
• Short-Term Rental Occupancy for May was up by 6.8% @ 47.0% vs. 44.0% in 2024
• Short-term Rental Occupancy was below the three and five-year averages by 4.7% and 11.1% respectively, but above the ten-year average by 4.9%
• 2015 had the highest Short-term Rental Occupancy for the month @ 84.6%
• 2018 had the lowest Short-term Rental Occupancy for the month @ 28.9%
• Statewide Short-term Rental Occupancy was 55%, down 1.6% from last year
• Nationwide STR Occupancy was 55%, down 0.9% from last year
• Among our competitive set, Hotels ranked 3rd 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 three 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 7.1% @ $240.39 vs. $224.48 in 2024
• Short-Term Rental Average Daily Rate was up by 20.2% @ $769.00 vs. $640.00 in 2024
• Among our competitive set, Catalina ranked 6th in Average Daily Rate for Hotels and 1st for STRs (high to low)
• Statewide Hotel and STR Average Daily Rate was $191.00 and $422.00 respectively
• Nationwide Hotel and STR Average Daily Rate was $192 and $163 respectively

Hotel and Short-Term Rental Revenue Per Available Room

• Hotel Revenue Per Available Room was up 17.0% @ $178.78 vs. $152.84 in 2024
• Short-Term Rental Revenue Per Available Room was up 29.0 @ $365.00 vs. $283.00 in 2024
• Among our competitive set, Catalina ranked 6th for hotels and 1st for STRs in Revenue Per Available Room (high to low)
• Statewide Hotel  and STR Revenue Per Available Room was $134.00 and $211.00 respectively
• Nationwide Hotel and STR Revenue Per Available Room was $106.00 and $177.00 respectively

Visitor & Member Services

• May Mixer attendance was up year-over year at 68 vs 49 or an increase of 38.8%

• Phone Calls for the month were up year-over-year by 16.7% @ 516 vs. 442 in 2024
• Calls were down from the three, five and ten-year averages by 7.9%, 22.9% and 38.0% respectively.
• 2008 had the highest number of calls @ 2,100
• 202 had the lowest number @ 412
• Walk-ins for the month were down year-over-year by 7.0% @ 2,039 vs. 2,192 in 2024.  Walk-ins are below the three and five-year averages by 8.6% and 6.2% respectively
• 2018 had the highest volume of walk-ins for the month @ 5,426
• 2020 had the lowest volume for the month @ 0

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

• May LoveCatalina.com total website traffic was down 11.8% year-over-year @ 97,891 vs. 111,000 in 2024
• May total website users were above the three-year average by 0.6% but below the five-year average by 7.4% 
• Book Direct lodging referrals were up year-over-year by 11.3% @ 15,053 vs. 13,530 in 2024 
• Book Direct lodging searches were up 57.4% @ 27,821 vs. 17,688 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

• Certified Racks did not require new deliveries during the month
• Go California Printed Guide orders totaled 227, up from 84 in 2024
• Mail House fulfillment was 131 vs 0 in 2024
• Online Guide downloads were down 7.1% @ 559 vs. 602 in 2024
• Printed Visitor Guide orders on LoveCatalina.com @ 511 were down 26.2% from 692 last year
• Trade Show distribution was 0 this year and 0 in 2024
• Visitor Guides delivered to the Visitor Center totaled 0 down from 1,000 last year

• New E-newsletter subscribers in May were down year-over-year @ 141 vs 220 last year
• New subscribers for the month were below the three and five-year averages

Social Media

Cumulative totals by platform as of May below

• Facebook followers are up year-over-year by 7.3%
• Instagram followers are up year-over-year by 25.9%
• LinkedIn followers are up year-over-year by 21.1%
• Threads followers are up by 54.2%
• TikTok followers are up year-over-year by 13.6%. 
• X followers are down year over-year by 3.8%

Weather

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

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

 Year-to-date and Historical Arrivals

Data above is for January – May of each year.

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

• 2025 year-to-date total visitation is 402,695, is up 9.2% from 368,796 last year
• 2025 year-to-date visitation is above the three, five and ten-year average by 7.6%, 18.5% and 24.4% respectively.

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, AirDNA

• Hotel Occupancy January through May 2025 is up 10.0% @ 63.4% vs. 57.7% tracked for the same time period in 2024
• Hotel Occupancy through May is above the three and five-year averages by 5.5% and 7.2% respectively
• Short-Term Rental Occupancy was 37.3%, down 1.3% from 2024 which was 37.8%
• Short-term rental occupancy through May was below the three, five and ten-year averages by 7.3%, 16.7% and 5.3% respectively
• Catalina’s average year-to-date Hotel Occupancy of 63.4% was below the YTD occupancy for all ten competing destinations
• Catalina’s average Short-Term Rental year-to date Occupancy was not reported

Year-to-date Visitor & Member Services

• The number of Mixer attendees year-to-date is up 13.1% @ 293 vs. 259 in 2024
• The number of Phone Calls year-to-date are up by 2.7% @ 1,899 vs. 1,849 in 2024
• Year-to-date Phone Calls were below the three, five and ten-year averages by 7.8%, 17.0% and 38.8% respectively
• The Number of Walk-Ins year-to-date are down @ 7,703 vs. 8,966 or by 14.1%  
• Year-to-date Walk-In counts were below the three and five-year averages by 11.0% and 0.7% respectively

Year-to-date

LoveCatalina.com

• Book Direct referrals are up by 8.7% year-to-date @ 58,034 vs. 53,383 in 2024 
• Book Direct lodging searches were up by 44.4% @ 111,330 vs. 77,113 in 2024 
• Calls connecting from LoveCatalina.com were down 9.3% from last year
• Links to directions on LoveCatalina.com were up 3.1% from last year
• Business profile views were up 73% from last year
• Searches made on LoveCatalina.com were down 53.1% from last year
• Website Users were down 14.5% from last year
• Visits to other websites from LoveCatalina.com were down 19.2% 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.

Year-to-date Weather

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