Visitor Counts

July 2023

July visitation increased slightly year-over-year by 0.1% or 201 visitors.

Previous tracking (below) for the month of July offers a comparison with and without COVID-19 impacts.  July 2023 was slightly above the previous peak visitation for the month recorded last year @ 150,446 travelers.

July’s total in-bound passenger count was above the three, five and ten-year averages for the month.

Arrivals by Sea

Passengers arriving by sea, totaled 111,119 for the month, a decrease of 9.1% from last year.

Cross Channel Passenger counts were up year-over-year by 0.3% or an increase of 281 people

• 2000 had the highest volume for the month @ 117,097 passengers
• 2020 had the lowest volume for the month @ 50,135
• July Cross Channel Passenger counts were below the three-year average by 0.2%, but above the five and ten-year averages by 13.0% and 9.6% respectively
• Cross Channel Passengers made up 72.13% of total monthly arrivals

Cruise passenger counts totaled 27,654, down by 2.8% from 2022 or by 786 visitors

• 2023 had the highest Cruise Passenger volume for the month @ 27,654
• 2020 and 2021 had the lowest Cruise Passenger volume for the month @ 0
• July Cruise Passenger counts were above the three, five and ten-year averages by 47.9%, 65.2% and 39.3% respectively.  Note multi-year averages are greatly impacted by the lack of cruise ships calling during COVID-19’s suspension of operations
• Cruise Passengers made up 18.36% of total monthly arrivals
   
• The number of Cruise Ships calling on Avalon was 7
• 2019 had the highest number of ships calling @ 10
• 2020 and 2021 had 0 ships call on us
• July typically has 9 ships call on us

Private Boater Passenger counts totaled 9,980, up from last year by 4.8% or 460 visitors

• 2021 had the highest passenger volume for the month @ 10,608
• 2014 had the lowest passenger volume month @ 8,084
• July Private Boater Passenger counts were below the three-year average by 0.6% but above the five and ten-year averages by 0.7% and 5.3% respectively
• Private Boaters Made up 6.63% of total monthly arrivals
   
• July’s number of Vessels Anchored was up by 93.3% @ 288 vs 149 last year
• 2023 had the highest number of Vessels Anchored @ 288
• 2020 had the lowest number of Vessels Anchored @ 129
• July was above the three, five and ten-year averages by 51.6%, 59.3% and 60.0% respectively
   
• July’s number of Vessels on Moorings was up 4.8% from last year @ 2,495 vs. 2,380 or an increase of 115 vessels
• 2021 had the highest number of Vessels on Moorings @ 2,652
• 2014 had the lowest number of Vessels on Moorings @ 2,021
• July was below the three-year average by 0.6%, but above the five and ten-year averages by 0.7% and 5.3% respectively

 Arrivals by Air

Combined in-bound air passenger counts for July totaled 4,444 up 5.3% from 4,222 in 2022.

Private Aircraft Passengers (Airport in the Sky) were up 41.6% @ 2,910 vs 2,055 last year

• July’s Private Aircraft Passenger count was above the three, five and ten-year averages by 28.3%, 24.1% and 34.5% respectively
• 2023 had the highest volume for the month @ 2,910
• 2010 the lowest volume for the month @ 1,455
• July’s Private Aircraft Passengers made up 1.93% of total monthly arrivals

Helicopter Passenger counts were down year-over-year by 29.6% @ 2,495 vs. 2,380 

• 2017 had the highest volume for the month @ 3,025
• 2020 the lowest volume for the month @ 854
• July Helicopter Passenger counts were below the three, five and ten-year averages by 21.4%, 4.7% and 23.2% respectively
• July Helicopter Passengers made up 1.67% of total monthly arrivals

Lodging

Hotel and Short-Term Rental Occupancy from Smith Travel and AIRDNA

• Hotel Occupancy for July was down by 4.3% @ 77.8% vs. 81.3% in 2022
• Hotel Occupancy was below three, five and ten-year averages by 4.0%, 2.2% and 5.9% respectively
• Short-Term Rental Occupancy for July was up 1.2% @ 84% vs 83% in 2022
• Short-term rental occupancy was equal to the three-year average @ 84%, but above the five and ten-year averages by 18.5% and 20.7% respectively
• Among our competitive set, in July Hotels ranked 8^th in Occupancy and 2nd in Short-Term Rental Occupancy (high to low)

Competing Destination Occupancies

• July Hotel Occupancy was lower than Catalina’s in Palm Springs and San Francisco, with all other destinations being higher
• July Short-Term Rental Occupancy was lower than Catalina’s in all but Newport Beach

Hotel and Short-Term Rental Average Daily Rate from Smith Travel and AIRDNA

• Among our competitive set, in July Catalina ranked 5th in Average Daily Rate for Hotels and 1st for STRs (high to low)
• July Hotel Average Daily Rate was down 7.4% @ $299.88 vs. $313.97 in 2022
• July Short-Term Rental Average Daily Rate was up by 3.1% @ $628.00 vs. $609.00 in 2022

Hotel and Short-Term Rental Revenue Per Available Room from Smith Travel and AIRDNA

• Among our competitive set, in July Catalina ranked 6^th for hotels and 2nd for STRs in Revenue Per Available Room (high to low)
• July Hotel Revenue Per Available Room was down 11.3% @ $226.29 vs. $255.11 in 2022
• July Short-Term Rental Revenue Per Available Room was $528.00, up 4.3% from $506.00 in 2022

Visitors Services

Catalina Island Visitor Center

• Walk-ins for the month were up year-over-year by 1.7% @ 3,457 vs. 3,399 in 2022
• 2018 has the highest volume for the month @ 8,413
• 2020 had the lowest volume for the month @ 566
• July walk-in counts were below the three-year average by 7.1% but above the five-year average by 9.7%

• The number of Phone Calls for the month was down by 10.6% year-over-year @ 873 vs 977
• 2008 had the highest volume of calls for the month @ 3,101
• 2023 had the lowest volume of calls for the month @ 873
• July calls were below the three, five and ten-year averages by 14.2%, 18.3% and 39.3% respectively

LoveCatalina.com

• July LoveCatalina.com total website traffic was up year-over-year by 0.8% @ 99,145 vs 98,315 in 2022
• July total website users were below the three and five-year averages by 5.5% and 9.3% but above the ten-year average by 81.3%
• Book Direct referrals were down year-over-year by 12.8% @ 14,718 vs. 16,874 in 2022 
• Book Direct lodging searches were up 8.1% @ 18,014 vs.16,667 in 2022

Note changes to Book Direct in 2021 resulted in shifting traffic between referrals and searches 

Visitor Guides & Newsletters

Note measures now include additional source tracking for months and years in which distributions were made

• No Guides were delivered to Certified Racks during the month
• No Guides were delivered via Go California, down from 236 in 2022
• Online Guide downloads were up @ 511 vs. 392 in 2022
• Printed Visitor Guide orders on LoveCatalina.com @ 717, were up from 112 last year
• 780 Guides were delivered to the Visitor Center, down from last year @ 810

Note, no 2021 Guide was printed and 2022 guide distribution initiated in late February 2022

• New E-newsletter subscribers in July were up year-over-year @ 225 vs 155 in 2022
• New subscribers for the month were above the three and five-year averages of 176 and 145 respectively

Social Media

Cumulative totals by platform as of July below

• Facebook followers are up year-over-year by 5.3%
• Instagram followers are up year-over-year by 30.9%
• LinkedIn followers are up year-over-year by 36.5%
• TikTok is up year-over-year by 15.6% 
• X followers are up year-over-year by 1.3%

Year-to-date—Historical Arrivals

COVID-19 and pre-Covid-19 comparrison data is illustrated in the snapshot above (January – July YTD)

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

• 2022 had the highest total visitation year-to-date @ 632,027, a difference of 16,188 visitors in 2023
• 2012 had the lowest year-to-date total visitation @ 465,329

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 and AirDNA

• Hotel Occupancy January through July 2023 was down 4.5% @ 65.7% vs. 68.8% tracked for the same time period in 2022
• Short-Term Rental Occupancy was 58.4%, down 4.0% from 60.9% in 2022
• According to Smith Travel, Catalina’s average YTD Hotel Occupancy of 65.7% was below the YTD occupancy for all of our competing destinations except San Francisco
• According to AirDNA, Catalina’s average Short-Term Rental YTD Occupancy of 58.4% was below all destinations in our competitive set

Year-to-date Visitor Services

Catalina Island Visitor Center

• The number of Phone Calls year-to-date are down by 15.8% @ 4,053 vs. 4,811 in 2022
• Year-to-date Phone Calls were below the three, five and ten-year averages by 10.1%, 14.3% and 35.3% respectively
• Number of Walk-Ins year-to-date are up @ 16,180 vs. 13,827 or 17%   
• Year-to-date Walk-In counts were above the three and five-year averages by 14.1% and 28.6% respectively

Year-to-date LoveCatalina.com

• LoveCatalina.com website users are down year-to-date by 17.7% @ 594,302 vs. 721,799 in 2022
• Book Direct lodging searches are down by 23.3% @ 96,259 vs. 125,499 in 2022 
• Book Direct referrals are down by 33.0% @ 75,504 vs. 112,696 in 2022 
• Book Direct Package referrals are not currently active on our site

 Note changes to Book Direct on member links has resulted in shifting some traffic to referrals vs. searches

Weather

Data for recent highs, lows and precipitation are not currently available due to broken feed from the Harbor weather station. Multi-year rain days data is also displayed by year and month since 2012, likewise excluding recent months of this year.  Measures are taken at Avalon Harbor.