Visitor Counts

November 2025

All Arrivals

November visitation increased year-over-year by 17.3% with 76,959 total arrivals

November’s total arrival count was above the three, five and ten-year averages by 3.7%, 9.0% and 15.3% respectively. Cross Channel Counts above include 1,552 arrivals at Two Harbors this year and 1,678 last year. 

Previous tracking (below) for the month November offers comparisons year-over-year by segments

• November 2023 had the highest number of total visitor arrivals on record @ 80,067
• November 2020 had the lowest number of total visitor arrivals @ 36,716

Arrivals by Sea

Passengers arriving by sea in November totaled 75,062, up by 18.5% for the month compared to last year.

Cross Channel Passenger counts were down by 7.8%, a decrease of 3,321 people.  Cross Channel Counts above include arrivals at Two Harbors.

• 2014 had the highest volume of Cross Channel passengers for the month @ 50,949 passengers
• 2020 had the lowest volume for the month @ 9,883 passengers
• November Cross Channel Passenger counts were below the three, five and ten-year averages by 2.9%, 5.8% and 3.3% respectively. Cross Channel Passengers made up 51.35% of total monthly arrivals

Cruise passenger counts totaled 33,244 up from 17,971 last year by 85.0% or 15,273 visitors

• 2023 had the highest Cruise Passenger volume for the month @ 35,263
• 2020 had the lowest Cruise Passenger volume for the month @ 0
• November Cruise Passenger counts were above the three, five and ten-year averages by 15.3%, 40.0% and 60.6% respectively
• Cruise Passengers made up 36.02% of total monthly arrivals
• The number of Cruise Ships calling on Avalon in November was 11
• 2023 had the highest number of ships calling @ 14
• 2020 had 0 ships calling

• November typically has 8 ships call

Private Boater Passenger counts totaled 2,296, down 8.3% from last year

• 2019 had the highest passenger volume for the month @ 3,669
• 2025 had the lowest passenger volume month @ 2,296
• November Private Boater Passenger counts were below the three, five and ten-year averages by 8.9%, 10.6% and 19.7% respectively
• Private Boaters made up 2.98% of total arrivals

• November 2025’s number of Vessels Anchored was 36, down 71.7% from 2024 @ 127
• 2018 had the highest number of Vessels Anchored for the month @ 171
• 2011 had the lowest number of Vessels Anchored @ 4
• November was below the three, five and ten-year averages by 66.3%, 63.9% and 61.4% respectively

• November’s number of Vessels on Moorings was 574, down 8.3% from last year’s total of 626
• 2019 had the highest number of Vessels on Moorings @ 856

• 2015 had the lowest number of Vessels on Moorings @ 578
• November was below the three, five and ten-year averages by 8.9%, 10.6% and 17.5% respectively

  Arrivals by Air

Combined in-bound air passenger counts for November totaled 1,927 down by 17.0% from 2,322 in 2024

Private Aircraft Passengers (Airport in the Sky) totaled 1,167, down 16.3% vs. last year’s total of 1,395

• 2015 had the highest volume for the month @ 1,773
• 2007 had the lowest volume for the month @ 1,079
• November’s Private Aircraft Passenger count was below the three, five and ten-year averages by 16.8%, 22.9% and 20.2% respectively
• Private Aircraft Passengers made up 1.52% of total monthly arrivals

Helicopter Passenger counts totaled 730, down year-over-year by 17.2% from 882 in 2024

• 2015 had the highest volume for the month @ 1,335
• 2011 had the lowest volume for the month @ 623
• Helicopter Passenger counts were below the three, five and ten-year averages by 5.7%, 7.2% and 14.4% respectively
• Helicopter Passengers made up .95% of total monthly arrivals

Lodging

From Smith Travel, AIRDNA and Visit California

Hotels and Short-Term Rentals Occupancy

• Hotel Occupancy in November was up 9.6% @ 56.9% vs. 51.9% in 2024, according to Smith Travel with only five properties reporting
• Hotel Occupancy was above the three-year average by 1.5% but below the five and ten-year averages by 2.0% and 3.3% respectively
• 2021 had the highest Hotel Occupancy for the month @ 63.9%
• 2020 had the lowest Hotel Occupancy for the month @ 49.4%
• Statewide Hotel Occupancy for the month was 63.0%
• Nationwide Hotel Occupancy was 58.0%

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• Catalina’s Short-Term Rental Occupancy for November was down by 16.7% @ 30.0% vs. 36.0% in 2024, according to AirDNA with 330 properties reporting
• Short-term Rental Occupancy was below the three, five and ten-year averages by 12.6%, 21.9% and 16.6% respectively
• 2021 had the highest Short-term Rental Occupancy for the month @ 50.0%
• 2019 had the lowest Short-term Rental Occupancy for the month @ 25.3%
• Statewide Short-term Rental Occupancy was 58.0%
• Nationwide STR Occupancy was 51.0%
• Among our competitive set Catalina Hotels and Short-Term Rentals ranked 10th 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

• Hotel Average Daily Rate was up 6.5% @ $206.77 vs. $194.24 in 2024
• Short-Term Rental Average Daily Rate was down by 9.0% @ $637.00 vs. $700.00 in 2024
• Among our competitive set, Catalina ranked 7th in Average Daily Rate for Hotels and 1st for STRs (high to low)
• Statewide Hotel and STR Average Daily Rate was $183.00 and $247 respectively
• Nationwide Hotel and STR Average Daily Rate was $154.00 and $225.00 respectively

Hotel and Short-Term Rental Revenue Per Available Room

• Hotel Revenue Per Available Room was up 14.5% @ $117.60 vs. $102.67 in 2024
• Short-Term Rental Revenue Per Available Room was down 24.4% @ $192.00 vs. $254.00 in 2024
• Among our competitive set, Catalina ranked 10th for hotels and 4th for STRs in Revenue Per Available Room (high to low)
• Statewide Hotel  and STR Revenue Per Available Room was $114.00 and $144.00 respectively
• Nationwide Hotel and STR Revenue Per Available Room was $89.00 and $115.00 respectively

Visitor & Member Services

• Mixer attendance was up 4.4% at 47 vs. 45 in 2024
• Mixer attendance was below the three-year average by 5.4%

• Phone Calls for the month were up year-over-year by 16.2% @ 352 vs. 303 in 2024
• Calls were up from the three-year average by 12.1% but down from the five and ten-year averages by 5.9% and 39.1% respectively
• 2007 had the highest number of calls @ 1,108
• 2020 had the lowest number @ 261
• Increased use of online and mobile self-help tools for reservations and research are believed to be the main reasons for declining calls
• Online sales for New Year’s Eve Gala began several years ago, further reducing calls this time of year

• Walk-ins for the month were up year-over-year by 2.5% @ 1,410 vs. 1,376 in 2024
• Walk-ins are below the three and five-year averages by 12.1% and 23.2% respectively
• 2016 had the highest volume of walk-ins for the month @ 3,241
• 2020 had the lowest volume for the month @ 676

LoveCatalina.com

• November’s LoveCatalina.com total website traffic was up 26.7% year-over-year @ 74,724 vs. 59,000 in 2024
• November’s total website users was above the three and five-year averages by 6.4 and 13.3% respectively
• Book Direct lodging referrals were up year-over-year by 5.0% @ 6,382 vs. 6,077 in 2024 
• Book Direct lodging searches were up 3.6% @ 14,668 vs. 14,159 in 2024 
• Additional Google metrics are now being tracked for users opting to navigate to calls, directions, searches etc., but with small numbers tracked so far

Notes:  Changes to Book Direct in 2021 resulted in shifting traffic between referrals and searches.  New Google metrics inhibit ten-year reporting in our software and favor their own results over our organic ranking.  In addition, external AI tools are eroding traditional website traffic measures.  LoveCatalina.com is now being optimized for future AI searches.  AI web traffic is not trackable at this time.

Visitor Guides & Newsletters

• Go California Printed Guide orders totaled 198, up from 0 in 2024
• Mail House fulfillment was 192 vs 0 in 2024  
• Online Guide downloads were up @ 278 vs. 222 in 2024
• Printed Visitor Guide orders on LoveCatalina.com were up @ 340 vs 282 last year
• Visitor Guides delivered to the Visitor Center totaled 0 down from 624 last year

• New E-newsletter subscribers in November declined year-over-year @ 93 vs 104 last year
• New subscribers for the month were below the three and five-year averages of 115 and 102 respectively

Social Media

Cumulative totals by platform as of November

• Facebook followers are up year-over-year by 6.5%
• Instagram followers are up year-over-year by 13.2%
• LinkedIn followers are up year-over-year by 25.6%
• Threads followers are up by 16.5%
• TikTok followers are up year-over-year by 34.5%. 
• X followers are down year over-year by 2.2%

For a look at our top performing Meta posts in November vs October, click, click here 

Weather

High, low and rain days for November (since 2012) are tracked below

• Daytime highs remained below average but increased from November 2024

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

• November 2025 tied with 2012 for the most rain days in the month @ 6.

 Year-to-date and Historical Arrivals

Year-to-date total arrivals is above all previous years’ tracking for the same timeframe @ 1,145,430 visitors

Data above is for January – November of each year shows a 7.2% growth over last year for the same timeframe and the highest year-to-date total on record.

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

• 2025 year-to-date total visitation @ 1,145,430 is up 7.2% from 1,068,813 in 2024
• 2025 year-to-date visitation is above the three, five and ten-year average by 6.0%, 13.7% and 20.3% 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 November 2025 is up 5.8% @ 68.0% vs. 64.2% tracked for the same time period in 2024
• Hotel Occupancy through November is above the three, five and ten-year averages by 3.2%, 2.3% and 0.5% respectively
• Short-Term Rental Occupancy January through November was 47.1%, down 3.6% from 2024 which was 48.8%
• Short-term rental occupancy through November was below the three and five-year averages by 6.0%, 12.6% respectively but above the ten-year average by 1.6%

Year-to-date Visitor & Member Services
Mixers and Visitor Center

• The number of Mixer attendees year-to-date is up 10.0% @ 627 vs. 570 in 2024
• The number of Phone Calls year-to-date are up by 10.9% @ 5,184 vs. 4,674 in 2024
• Year-to-date Phone Calls were below the three, five and ten-year averages by 1.3%, 14.8% and 38.4% respectively
• The Number of Walk-Ins year-to-date are down @ 22,332 vs. 24,205 or by 7.7%  
• Year-to-date Walk-In counts were below the three and five-year averages by 8.3% and 7.5% respectively

Year-to-date

LoveCatalina.com

• Book Direct Packages were not active year to date
• Book Direct referrals are down 7.7% year-to-date @ 126,175 vs. 136,773 in 2024 
• Book Direct lodging searches were up by 10.9% @ 237,044 vs. 213,732 in 2024 
• Calls connecting from LoveCatalina.com were down 5.6% from last year
• Links to directions on LoveCatalina.com were up 23.2% from last year
• Messages from LoveCatalina.com were 0 vs 97 last year
• Business profile views were up 76.7% from last year
• Searches made on LoveCatalina.com were up 57.8% from last year
• Website Users were down 10.9% from last year
• Visits to other websites from LoveCatalina.com were down 5.4% 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.  Recently implemented AI integration is not yet rendering data for reporting.

Year-to-date Weather

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