September 2021 visitor numbers were 19% greater than September 2020 visitor numbers, according to figures recently released by Love Catalina Island.
Of course, 2020 numbers were horrid as travel to the Island was severely restricted.
“Previous September tracking (below) offers a comparison without COVID-19 impacts. September 2021’s total of 84,579 fell short of September 2019’s total arrivals of 98,425,” according to Love Catalina, a non-profit also known as the Catalina Island Tourism Authority.
“September’s total in-bound passenger count was below the three, five and ten-year averages. September 2021 trailed the same month in 2019 by 13,846 visitors,” according to the Love Catalina Island website.
“Total Arrivals year-to-date was up from last year by 63.1% @ 630,148 vs. 386,327 or a difference of 243,821 visitors,” according to th e website.
Some details
“Passengers arriving by sea, including private boaters, totaled 80,804 for the month of September, up by 13,159 from last year,” according to the website.
“September Cross Channel Passenger counts were up year-over-year by 21.4% @ 71,399 vs. 58,813 last year,” according to the website.
Cross channel carriers bring most of the visitors to the Island.
“Private Boater Passenger counts were down slightly year-over-year @ 8,148 vs. 8,832 in 2020,” according to the website.
“Cruise passenger counts were 1,257,” according to the website.
Cruise ships only recently resumed visits to the Island after more than a year.
“2019 had 20,704 Cruise Passengers,” according to the website.
“Private Aircraft Passengers (Airport in the Sky) was down slightly @ 1,872 from 1,887 last year,” according to the website.
“Helicopter Passenger counts were up 23.1% year-over-year @ 1,903 vs. 1,546,” according to the website.