Visitor Counts

September 2025

All Arrivals

September visitation increased year-over-year by 22.9% with 118,770 total arrivals

September’s total arrival count was above the three, five and ten-year averages by 9.6%, 17.4% and 21.6% respectively. Cross Channel Counts above include 2,547 arrivals at Two Harbors this year and 3,373 last year. 

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

• September 2025 had the highest number of total visitor arrivals @ 118,770
• September 2020 had the lowest number of total visitor arrivals @ 71,078

Arrivals by Sea

Passengers arriving by sea in September totaled 116,208, up by 23.3% for the month compared to last year.

Cross Channel Passenger counts were down by 4.9%, a decrease of 3,554 people.  Cross Channel Counts above include arrivals at Two Harbors.

• 1995 had the highest volume of Cross Channel passengers for the month @ 78,320 passengers
• 2008 had the lowest volume for the month @ 44,553 passengers
• September Cross Channel Passenger counts were below the three and five-year averages by 1.9% but above the ten-year average by 1.0%
• Cross Channel Passengers made up 58.69% of total monthly arrivals

Cruise passenger counts totaled 38,286, up from 12,930 last year by 196.1% or 25,356 visitors

• 2025 had the highest Cruise Passenger volume for the month @ 38,286
• 2020 had the lowest Cruise Passenger volume for the month @ 0
• September Cruise Passenger counts were above the three, five and ten-year averages by 42.8%, 98.3% and 120.9% respectively
• Cruise Passengers made up 32.24% of total monthly arrivals
• The number of Cruise Ships calling on Avalon in September was 11
• 2019 and 2025 had the highest number of ships calling @ 11
• 2020 had 0 ships calling
• September typically has 9 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 8,220, up 2.2% or by 180 people from last year

• 2011 had the highest passenger volume for the month @ 10,494
• 2014 had the lowest passenger volume month @ 6,812
• September Private Boater Passenger counts were above the three, five and ten-year averages by 0.3%, 1.6% and 0.9% respectively
• Private Boaters made up 6.92% of total monthly arrivals
• September’s number of Vessels Anchored was down by 84.9% @ 57 vs. 377
• 2024 had the highest number of Vessels Anchored for the month @ 377
• 2012 had the lowest number of Vessels Anchored @ 71
• September was below the three, five and ten-year averages by 73.8%, 69.4% and 65.4% respectively
• September’s number of Vessels on Moorings was 2,055, up 2.2% from last year
• 2020 had the highest number of Vessels on Moorings @ 2,208
• 2014 had the lowest number of Vessels on Moorings @ 1,703
• September was above the three, five and ten-year averages by 0.3%, 1.6% and 0.9% respectively

  Arrivals by Air

Combined in-bound air passenger counts for September totaled 2,583 up by 4.0% from 2,484 in 2024

Private Aircraft Passengers (Airport in the Sky) totaled 1,305, up 5.8% vs. last year’s total of 1,233

• 2012 had the highest volume for the month @ 2,621
• 2023 had the lowest volume for the month @ 996
• September’s Private Aircraft Passenger count was  above the three-year average by 10.8%, but below the five and ten-year averages by 7.1% and 12.4% respectively
• Private Aircraft Passengers made up 1.09% of total monthly arrivals

Helicopter Passenger counts totaled 1,257, up year-over-year by 3.1% from 1,219 in 2024

• 2017 had the highest volume for the month @ 2,249
• 2023 had the lowest volume for the month @ 861
• Helicopter Passenger counts were above the three-year average by 13.0% but below the five and ten-year averages by 5.8% and 25.3% respectively
• Helicopter Passengers made up 1.06% of total monthly arrivals

Lodging

From Smith Travel, AIRDNA and Visit California

Hotels and Short-Term Rentals Occupancy

• Hotel Occupancy in September was up 8.0% @ 75.5% vs. 69.9% in 2024, according to Smith Travel with seven properties reporting
• Hotel Occupancy was above the three, five and ten-year averages by 3.5%, 1.8% and 1.2% respectively
• 2017 had the highest Hotel Occupancy for the month @ 81.3%
• 2024 had the lowest Hotel Occupancy for the month @ 69.9%
• Statewide Hotel Occupancy for the month was 69%, down 3.1% from 2024
• Nationwide Hotel Occupancy was 63.0%, down 1.9% from last year
• Catalina’s Short-Term Rental Occupancy for September was up by 1.9% @ 54.0% vs.53.0% in 2024, according to AirDNA with 330 properties reporting
• Short-term Rental Occupancy was below the three and five-year averages by 1.8% and 8.1% respectively but above the ten-year average by 8.4%
• 2022 had the highest Short-term Rental Occupancy for the month @ 66.0%
• 2018 had the lowest Short-term Rental Occupancy for the month @ 28.0%
• Statewide Short-term Rental Occupancy was 50.0%, down 4.1% from last year
• Nationwide STR Occupancy was 48%, down 3.9% from last year
• Among our competitive set, both Hotels ranked  in 3rd place in Occupancy and Short-Term Rentals ranked 9th place in Occupancy (high to low)

Competing Destination Occupancies

• Hotel Occupancy was lower than Catalina’s in San Francisco and Santa Monica
• Short-Term Rental Occupancy was lower than Catalina’s in San Francisco

Hotel and Short-Term Rental Average Daily Rate

• Hotel Average Daily Rate was down 1.1% @ $247.49 vs. $250.18 in 2024
• Short-Term Rental Average Daily Rate was up by 2.7% @ $774.00 vs. $754.00 in 2024
• Among our competitive set, Catalina ranked 5th in Average Daily Rate for Hotels and 1st for STRs (high to low)
• Statewide Hotel and STR Average Daily Rate was $193.00 and $361.00 respectively
• Nationwide Hotel and STR Average Daily Rate was $163.00 and $311.00 respectively

Hotel and Short-Term Rental Revenue Per Available Room

• Hotel Revenue Per Available Room was up 6.8% @ $186.77 vs. $174.96 in 2024
• Short-Term Rental Revenue Per Available Room was up 4.0% @ $416.00 vs. $400.00 in 2024
• Among our competitive set, Catalina ranked 7th for hotels and 1st for STRs in Revenue Per Available Room (high to low)
• Statewide Hotel  and STR Revenue Per Available Room was $132.00 and $182.00 respectively
• Nationwide Hotel and STR Revenue Per Available Room was $103.00 and $148.00 respectively

Visitor & Member Services

• Mixer attendance was down 14.1% at 67 vs. 78 in 2024

• Phone Calls for the month were up year-over-year by 4.5% @ 509 vs. 487 in 2024
• Calls were down up from the three-year average  by 8.0% but down from the five and ten-year averages by 11.6% and 39.7% respectively
• 2010 had the highest number of calls @ 1,854
• 2023 had the lowest number @ 418
• Increased use of online and mobile self-help tools for reservations and research are believed to be the main reasons for declining calls

• Walk-ins for the month were up year-over-year by 10.4% @ 2,458 vs. 2,227 in 2024
• Walk-ins are above the three and five-year averages by 0.9% and 3.1% respectively
• 2018 had the highest volume of walk-ins for the month @ 5,139
• 2020 had the lowest volume for the month @ 1,003

LoveCatalina.com

• September’s LoveCatalina.com total website traffic was down 6.8% year-over-year @ 90,405 vs. 97,000 in 2024
• September’s total website users were below the three and five-year averages by 9.4% and 3.7% respectively
• Book Direct lodging referrals were down year-over-year by 25.3% @ 9,433 vs. 12,634 in 2024 
• Book Direct lodging searches were down 30.4% @ 17,437 vs. 25,070 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.

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, AI tools are eroding traditional website traffic measures.  LoveCatalina.com is being optimized for future AI searches over the next few months.  AI web traffic is not trackable at this time.

Visitor Guides & Newsletters

• Certified Racks @ 0 guides delivered vs 0 last year.  Existing stock was adequate
• Go California Printed Guide orders totaled 271, up from 153 in 2024
• Mail House fulfillment was 0 vs. 74 in 2024
• Online Guide downloads were down @ 389 vs. 393 in 2024
• Printed Visitor Guide orders on LoveCatalina.com were down @ 339 vs 444 last year
• Visitor Guides delivered to the Visitor Center totaled 720 down from 1,080 last year

• New E-newsletter subscribers in September declined year-over-year @ 135 vs 139 last year
• New subscribers for the month were below the three-year average but slightly above the five-year average

Social Media

Cumulative totals by platform as of September

• Facebook followers are up year-over-year by 6.8%
• Instagram followers are up year-over-year by 15.9%
• LinkedIn followers are up year-over-year by 24.4%
• Threads followers are up by 25.0%
• TikTok followers are up year-over-year by 21.3%. 
• X followers are down year over-year by 3.6%

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

Weather

High, low and rain days for September (multiple years) are tracked below, with September 2025 having lower daytime temps than any year on record.

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

 Year-to-date and Historical Arrivals

Year-to-date total arrivals is above all previous years’ tracking for the same timeframe @ 969,785 passengers

Data above is for January – September of each year

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

• 2025 year-to-date total visitation @ 969,785 is up 5.3% from 921,274 last year
• 2025 year-to-date visitation is above the three, five and ten-year average by 6.2%, 14.3% and 21.4% 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 September 2025 is up 5.4% @ 69.3% vs. 65.7% tracked for the same time period in 2024
• Hotel Occupancy through September is above the three, five and ten-year averages by 3.4%, 3.2% and 1.6% respectively
• Short-Term Rental Occupancy January through September was 50.5%, down 0.7% from 2024 which was 50.9%
• Short-term rental occupancy through September was below the three and five-year averages by 4.1%, 10.1% respectively but above the ten-year average by 5.5%

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

• The number of Mixer attendees year-to-date is up 5.1% @ 513 vs. 488 in 2024
• The number of Phone Calls year-to-date are up by 11.6% @ 4,421 vs. 3,962 in 2024
• Year-to-date Phone Calls were below the three, five and ten-year averages by 2.7%, 15.6% and 37.6% respectively
• The Number of Walk-Ins year-to-date are down @ 18,651 vs. 20,852 or by 10.6%  
• Year-to-date Walk-In counts were below the three and five-year averages by 8.9% and 6.7% respectively

Year-to-date

LoveCatalina.com

• Book Direct referrals are down 7.5% year-to-date @ 113,376 vs. 122,607 in 2024 
• Book Direct lodging searches were up by 15.6% @ 210,538 vs. 182,125 in 2024 
• Calls connecting from LoveCatalina.com were down 7.7% from last year
• Links to directions on LoveCatalina.com were up 31.6% from last year
• Business profile views were up 63.7% from last year
• Searches made on LoveCatalina.com were up 38.1% from last year
• Website Users were down 14.6% from last year
• Visits to other websites from LoveCatalina.com were down 9.1% 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-September) are displayed below.  Measures are taken at Avalon Harbor.