Visitor Counts

October 2024

October visitation decreased year-over-year by 16.8% or 16,600 visitors with 81,944 total arrivals.

stats

October’s total arrival count was below the three, five and ten-year averages by 8.6%, 0.2% and 3.8% respectively. Multi-year averages are greatly impacted by COVID-19 related downturns. Cross Channel Counts above include 2,391 arrivals at Two Harbors this year and 2,399 last year.

vis

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

Arrivals by Sea

Passengers arriving by sea in October totaled 79,999, down for the month by 17.2 from last year. vis
vis

Cross Channel Passenger counts were down 1.9%, a decrease of 1,045 people. Cross Channel Counts above include arrivals at Two Harbors.

2020 had the highest volume for the month @ 57,383 passengers
2000 had the lowest volume for the month @ 31,323 passengers
October Cross Channel Passenger counts were below the three, five and ten-year averages by 2.1%, 4.0% and 2.8% respectively
Cross Channel Passengers made up 64.79% of total monthly arrivals

vis

Cruise passenger counts totaled 22,449, down by 40.4% from 2023 or by 15,219 visitors

2023 had the highest Cruise Passenger volume for the month @ 37,668
2020 had the lowest Cruise Passenger volume for the month @ 0
October Cruise Passenger counts were below the three-year average by 21.1% but above the five and ten-year averages by 18.7% and 0.4% respectively.
Cruise Passengers made up 27.40% of total monthly arrivals
The number of Cruise Ships calling on Avalon in October was 7
2023 had the highest number of ships calling @ 14
2020 had 0 ships calling
October typically has 11 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.

vis

Private Boater Passenger counts totaled 4,456, down by 7.9 from 4,840 last year or by 384 visitors

2020 had the highest passenger volume for the month @ 7,736
2024 had the lowest passenger volume month @ 4,456
October Private Boater Passenger counts were below the three, five and ten-year averages by 8.3%, 18.4% and 20.1% respectively Private Boaters made up 5.44% of total monthly arrivals
October’s number of Vessels Anchored was up by 44.9% from last year or by 79 boats
2024 had the highest number of Vessels Anchored @ 255
2011 had the lowest number of Vessels Anchored @ 10
October was above the three, five and ten-year averages by 41.1%, 74.9% and 80.1% respectively
October’s number of Vessels on Moorings was down 7.0% from last year or by 96boats
2020 had the highest number of Vessels on Moorings @ 1,934
2014 had the lowest number of Vessels on Moorings @ 1,114
October was below the three, five and ten-year averages by 8.3%, 18.4% and 20.1% respectively

Arrivals by Air

Combined in-bound air passenger counts for October totaled 1,975, up 2.8% or 53 Arrivals from 2023. vis

Private Aircraft Passengers (Airport in the Sky) totaled 1,113, down 4.1% or by 48 passengers vs. last year

2011 had the highest volume for the month @ 1,777
2024 the lowest volume for the month @ 1,113
October’s Private Aircraft Passenger count was below the three, five and ten-year averages by 8.8%, 21.1% and 21.1% respectively
Private Aircraft Passengers made up 1.40% of total monthly arrivals

vis

Helicopter Passenger counts totaled 832 up year-over-year by 13.0% or 96 arrivals

2015 had the highest volume for the month @ 1,617
2023 had the lowest volume for the month @ 736,
October Helicopter Passenger counts were below the three, five and ten-year averages by 8.3%, 20.37% and 34.7% respectively

Helicopter Passengers made up 1.02% of total monthly arrivals

vis

Lodging

From Smith Travel, AIRDNA and Visit California

Hotels and Short-Term Rentals Occupancy

vis

Hotel Occupancy for October was down 7.8% @ 62.9% vs. 68.2% in 2023
Hotel Occupancy was below the three, five and ten-year averages by 7.4%, 8.6% and 10.3% respectively
2017 had the highest Hotel Occupancy for the month @ 76.6%
2024 had the lowest Hotel Occupancy for the month @ 62.9%
Statewide Hotel Occupancy for the month was 71.0%, up 1.0% from 2023
Short-Term Rental Occupancy for October was down 15.7% @ 43.0% vs. 51.0% in 2023
Short-term Rental Occupancy was below the three, five and ten-year averages by 12.8%, 15.3% and 6.2% respectively
2015 had the highest Short-term Rental Occupancy for the month @ 67.7
2018 had the lowest Short-term Rental Occupancy for the month @ 30.9%
Statewide Short-term Rental Occupancy was 53.0%, flat with last year
Among our competitive set, Hotels ranked in 9th place and Short-Term Rentals last (10th) place in Occupancy (high to low)

Competing Destination Occupancies

occupancy

vis

Hotel Occupancy was higher than Catalina’s in all but one competing market
Short-Term Rental Occupancy was higher than Catalina’s in all competing markets

Hotel and Short-Term Rental Average Daily Rate vis

Hotel Average Daily Rate was up 1.1% @ $237.05 vs. $234.38 in 2023
Short-Term Rental Average Daily Rate was up by 29.7% @ $734.00 vs. $566.00 in 2023
Among our competitive set, Catalina ranked 6th in Average Daily Rate for Hotels and 1st for STRs (high to low)
Statewide Hotel Average Daily Rate was $192.00
Statewide STR Average Daily Rate was $389.00

Hotel and Short-Term Rental Revenue Per Available Room vis

Hotel Revenue Per Available Room was down 12.3% @ $140.98 vs. $159.79 in 2023
Short-Term Rental Revenue Per Available Room was up 8.9% @ $317.00 vs. $291.00 in 2023
Among our competitive set, Catalina ranked 9th for hotels and 2nd for STRs in Revenue Per Available Room (high to low)
Statewide Hotel Revenue Per Available Room was $136.00
Statewide Short Term Rental Revenue Per Available Room was $205.00

Visitors Services

Catalina Island Visitor Center

Walk-ins for the month were down year-over-year by 24.6% @ 1,977 vs. 2,623 in 2023
2016 had the highest volume for the month @ 4,648
2020 had the lowest volume for the month @ 936
October walk-in counts were below the three-year average by 16.4% the five-year average by 3.9%

vis

The number of Phone Calls for the month was up by 11.4% year-over-year @ 409 vs 367
2014 had the highest volume of calls for the month @ 1,485
2024 had the lowest volume of calls for the month @ 367
October calls were below the three, five and ten-year averages by 6.0%, 14.0% and 45.8% 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 vis

October LoveCatalina.com total website traffic was down 16.1% year-over-year @ 73,000 vs. 87,000 in 2023
October total website users were below the three and five-year average by 3.9% and 2.1% respectively
Book Direct lodging referrals were up year-over-year by 53.5% @ 8,089 vs. 5,269 in 2023
Book Direct lodging searches were up 98.3% @ 17,448 vs. 8,800 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

vis

Certified racks @ 3,672, up from 0 for the same month last year
Go California Print Guide orders totaled 0, down from 141 in 2023
Mail House fulfillment was down @ 0 from 52 in 2023
Online Guide downloads were up 12.6% @ 339 vs. 301 in 2023
Printed Visitor Guide orders on LoveCatalina.com @ 375, were up 35.4% from 277 last year
0 Visitor Guides were delivered to the Visitor Center, a decrease of 100% over 2023 @ 780

vis

New E-newsletter subscribers in October were even year-over-year @ 134
New subscribers for the month were slightly below the three-year average

Social Media

Cumulative totals by platform as of October below

vis

Facebook followers are up year-over-year by 6.2%
Instagram followers are up year-over-year by 32.9%
LinkedIn followers are up year-over-year by 28.9%
Threads followers are up 135.8% year-over-year
TikTok followers are up year-over-year by 17.4%.
X followers are up down year over-year by 0.9%

Trip Origination
Placer.AI

All Placer.AI data below is presented in descending order

The top five states from which Catalina’s October visitors originated were not yet available at the time of reporting
The top five cities/DMAs of origination based on number of visitor trips made to the island in October were not yet available at the time of reporting
The top five cities (descending order) visitors who were on the island for the most nights were yet available at the time of reporting
Updating of this data will follow upon receipt.
Top disposable income was from visitors originated from Boston Ma, Show Lo Az, Colorado Springs Co, Safford Az and Sierra Vista Az (descending order)

Year-to-date and Historical Arrivals

Data above is for January – October of each year.

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

vis

2024 year-to-date total visitation is 1,003.218 up 6.0% from 946,405 last year
2024 year-to-date visitation is above the three, five and ten-year average by 3.4%, 23.3% and 15.8% 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

vis

Hotel Occupancy January through October 2024 is up 0.1 % @ 66.4% vs. 66.3% tracked for the same time period in 2023
Short-Term Rental Occupancy was 50.1%, down 10.5% from 2023 which was 56.0%
Catalina’s average year-to-date Hotel Occupancy of 66.4% was below the YTD occupancy for eight of our ten competing destinations
Year-to-date statewide Hotel Occupancy was unavailable at the time of this report
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 22.1% @ 4,371 vs. 5,609 in 2023
Year-to-date Phone Calls were below the three, five and ten-year averages by 22.5%, 26.5% and 47.9% respectively
The Number of Walk-Ins year-to-date are down @ 22,829 vs. 24,537 or 7.0%
Year-to-date Walk-In counts were below the three-year average by 1.7% but above the five-year average by 18.8%

Year-to-date LoveCatalina.com

vis

Book Direct Package referrals were not active this reporting period
Book Direct referrals are up by 30.5% year-to-date @ 130,696 vs. 100,128 in 2023
Book Direct lodging searches were up by 51.5% @ 199,573 vs. 131,704 in 2023
LoveCatalina.com website users are up for the period by 11.1% @ 963,000 vs.867,000 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.