Visitor Counts

November 2024

November visitation decreased year-over-year by 18.1% or 14,472 visitors with 65,595 total arrivals.

November’s total arrival count was below the three and ten-year averages by 8.7% and 1.7% respectively. November’s counts were above the five-year average by 4.9%.  Multi-year averages are greatly impacted by COVID-19 related downturns. Cross Channel Counts above include 1,678 arrivals at Two Harbors this year and 1,347 last year.

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

Arrivals by Sea

Passengers arriving by sea in November totaled 63,318, down for the month by 18.5% from last year. 

Cross Channel Passenger counts were up 8.0%, an increase of 3,157 people.  Cross Channel Counts above include arrivals at Two Harbors.

• 2014 had the highest volume for the month @ 50,949 passengers
• 2009 had the lowest volume for the month @ 24,262 passengers
• November Cross Channel Passenger counts were above the three, five and ten-year averages by 5.4%, 6.0% and 4.1% respectively
• Cross Channel Passengers made up 65.31% of total monthly arrivals

Cruise passenger counts totaled 17,071, down from 35,263.  That’s a decline of 49.0% from 2023 or by 18,192 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 below the three and ten-year averages by 31.7% and 11.4% respectively, but above the five-year average by 5.1%. 
• Cruise Passengers made up 26.02% of total monthly arrivals
• The number of Cruise Ships calling on Avalon in November was 8
• 2023 had the highest number of ships calling @ 14
• 2020 had 0 ships calling
• November typically has 8 ships call on us
• The Vessel Counts chart above is missing ten-year averages on number of ships due to a period of time where data was only tracked annually.

Private Boater Passenger counts totaled 2,504, down by 9.3% from 2,760 last year or by 256 visitors

• 2019 had the highest passenger volume for the month @ 3,669
• 2012 had the lowest passenger volume month @ 2,448
• November Private Boater Passenger counts were above the below the three-year averages by 1.6% and 5.1% respectively, but below the ten-year average by 11.4%
• Private Boaters made up 3.81% of total monthly arrivals
• November’s number of Vessels Anchored was down by 19.10% from last year or by 6 boats
• 2018 had the highest number of Vessels Anchored @ 171
• 2011 had the lowest number of Vessels Anchored @ 4
• November was above the three, five and ten-year averages by 5.0%, 19.6% and 30.7% respectively
• November’s number of Vessels on Moorings was down 9.3% from last year or by 64boats
• 2019 had the highest number of Vessels on Moorings @ 856
• 2015 had the lowest number of Vessels on Moorings @ 578
• November was above the three-year average by 1.6% but below the five and ten-year averages by 4.7% and 10.1% respectively 

 Arrivals by Air

Combined in-bound air passenger counts for November totaled 2,322, down 3.2% or 76 Arrivals from 2023.

Private Aircraft Passengers (Airport in the Sky) totaled 1,395, down 15.3% or by 252 passengers vs. last year

• 2015 had the highest volume for the month @ 1,773
• 2007 the lowest volume for the month @ 1,079
• November’s Private Aircraft Passenger count was below the three, five and ten-year averages by 13.0%, 13.1% and 8.4% respectively
• Private Aircraft Passengers made up 2.13% of total monthly arrivals

Helicopter Passenger counts totaled 882 up year-over-year by 13.0% or 151 arrivals

• 2015 had the highest volume for the month @ 1,335
• 2023 had the lowest volume for the month @ 623
• Helicopter Passenger counts were above the three and five-year averages by 9.1% and 13.9% respectively, but below the ten-year average by 3.4%
• Helicopter Passengers made up 1.35% of total monthly arrivals

Lodging

From Smith Travel, AIRDNA and Visit California

Hotels and Short-Term Rentals Occupancy

• Hotel Occupancy for November was down 4.7% @ 52.9% vs. 55.5% in 2023
• Hotel Occupancy was below the three, five and ten-year averages by 6.7%, 6.7% and 14.5% respectively
• 2018 had the highest Hotel Occupancy for the month @ 73.4%
• 2024 had the lowest Hotel Occupancy for the month @ 49.4%
• Statewide Hotel Occupancy for the month was 63%, up 1.9% from 2023
• Nationwide Hotel Occupancy was 59% for the month
• Short-Term Rental Occupancy for November was down 2.7% @ 36.0% vs. 37.0% in 2023
• Short-term Rental Occupancy was below the three, five and ten-year averages by 3.6%, 11.9% and 1.7% respectively
• 2021 had the highest Short-term Rental Occupancy for the month @ 50.0%
• 2017 had the lowest Short-term Rental Occupancy for the month @ 32.10%
• Statewide Short-term Rental Occupancy was 52.0%, up 3% from last year
• Nationwide STR Occupancy was 48% for the month
• Among our competitive set, both Hotels and Short-Term Rentals ranked last (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 down 2.1% @ $194.24 vs. $198.50 in 2023
• Short-Term Rental Average Daily Rate was up by 27.3% @ $700.00 vs. $550.00 in 2023
• Among our competitive set, Catalina ranked 8th in Average Daily Rate for Hotels and 1st for STRs (high to low)
• Statewide Hotel Average Daily Rate was $178.00
• Nationwide Hotel Average Daily Rate was $153.00
• Statewide STR Average Daily Rate was $396.00
• Nationwide STR Average Daily Rate was $311.00

Hotel and Short-Term Rental Revenue Per Available Room

• Hotel Revenue Per Available Room was down 6.8% @ $102.67 vs. $110.22 in 2023
• Short-Term Rental Revenue Per Available Room was up 23.9% @ $254.00 vs. $205.00 in 2023
• Among our competitive set, Catalina ranked 8th for hotels and 5th for STRs in Revenue Per Available Room (high to low)
• Statewide Hotel Revenue Per Available Room was $113.00
• Nationwide Hotel Revenue Per Available Room was $91.00
• Statewide Short Term Rental Revenue Per Available Room was $205.00
• Nationwide Short Term Rental Revenue Per Available Room was $151.00

Visitors Services

Catalina Island Visitor Center

• Walk-ins for the month were down year-over-year by 32.0% @ 1,376 vs. 2,024 in 2023
• 2016 had the highest volume for the month @ 3,241
• 2020 had the lowest volume for the month @ 676
• November walk-in counts were below the three and five-year averages by 27.0% and 18.6% respectively

• The number of Phone Calls for the month was up by 1.5% year-over-year @ 303vs 287
• 2007 had the highest volume of calls for the month @ 1,108
• 2020 had the lowest volume of calls for the month @ 261
• November calls were below the three, five and ten-year averages by 1.5%, 14.9% and 48.6% respectively

Increased use of online and mobile self-help tools for reservations and research are being seen as the main reason for declining calls Inquiries on social media and via email are often taking the place of calls as well

LoveCatalina.com

• November LoveCatalina.com total website traffic was down 23.4% year-over-year @ 59,000 vs. 77,000 in 2023
• November total website users were below the three and five-year average by 8.3% and 0.6% respectively 
• Book Direct lodging referrals were up year-over-year by 6.6% @ 6,077 vs. 5,701in 2023 
• Book Direct lodging searches were up 41.3% @ 14,159 vs. 10,021 in 2023

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 had no new deliveries this month nor for the same month last year
• Go California Print Guide orders totaled 0, down from 90 in 2023
• Mail House fulfillment was 0 from 52 due to lack of inventory.  2025 Guides will be sent upon arrival
• Online Guide downloads were up 11.6% @ 222 vs. 199 in 2023
• Printed Visitor Guide orders on LoveCatalina.com @ 282, were down 28.6% from 395 last year
• 624 Visitor Guides were transferred from the Visitor Center to Certified to cover shortages, while last year we had 780 guides delivered to the center for the month

• New E-newsletter subscribers in November were down year-over-year @ 104 vs 147
• New subscribers for the month were below the three and five-year averages

Social Media

Cumulative totals by platform as of November below

• Facebook followers are up year-over-year by 6.1%
• Instagram followers are up year-over-year by 33.4%
• LinkedIn followers are up year-over-year by 26.8%
• Threads followers are up 120.8% year-over-year
• TikTok followers are up year-over-year by 17.2%
• X followers are up down year over-year by 2.2%

Trip Origination
Placer.AI

All Placer.AI data below is presented in descending order

• The top five states from which Catalina’s November visitors originated were Texas, Utah, New York, Colorado and Illinois
• The top five cities/DMAs of origination based on number of visitor trips made to the island in November were Los Angeles, San Diego, Riverside, Ventura and San Francisco
• The top five cities (descending order) visitors who were on the island for the most nights were New York City, Chicago, Seattle, Portland, and Salt Lake City
• Top disposable income was from visitors were not available at the time of reporting

Year-to-date and Historical Arrivals

Data above is for January – November of each year.

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

• 2024 year-to-date total visitation is 1,068,813 up 4.1% from 1,026,472 last year
• 2024 year-to-date visitation is above the three, five and ten-year average by 2.5%, 22.0% and 13.8% 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 and Visit California

• Hotel Occupancy January through November 2024 is down 0.2 % @ 65.2% vs. 65.4% tracked for the same time period in 2023
• Short-Term Rental Occupancy was 48.8%, down 10.1% from 2023 which was 54.3%
• Catalina’s average year-to-date Hotel Occupancy of 65.2% was below the YTD occupancy for eight of our ten competing destinations
• Year-to-date statewide Hotel Occupancy was 68%, down 0.2 from last year
• National year-to-date hotel occupancy was 64%, equal to last year
• Catalina’s average Short-Term Rental year-to date Occupancy of 50.1% was above all but two destinations in our competitive set
• Year-to-date statewide Short-Term Rental Occupancy was not reported

Year-to-date Visitor Services

Catalina Island Visitor Center

• The number of Phone Calls year-to-date are down by 20.7% @ 4,674 vs. 5,896 in 2023
• Year-to-date Phone Calls were below the three, five and ten-year averages by 21.4%, 25.8% and 47.9% respectively
• The Number of Walk-Ins year-to-date are down @ 24,205 vs. 26,561 or 8.9%  
• Year-to-date Walk-In counts were below the three-year average by 3.6% but above the five-year average by 15.7%

Year-to-date LoveCatalina.com

• Book Direct Package referrals were not active this reporting period
• Book Direct referrals are up by 29.2% year-to-date @ 136,773 vs. 105,829 in 2023 
• Book Direct lodging searches were up by 50.8% @ 213,732 vs. 141,725 in 2023 
• LoveCatalina.com website users are up for the period by 8.3% @ 1,022,000 vs. 944,000 in 2023

Note 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.

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Weather

High, low and rain days for November 2024. 

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