The November 2023 visitor count was 14.7% greater than in November 2022, according to statistics recently released by Love Catalina Tourism Authority.
Unfortunately, hotel occupancy was slightly down. (See below for details.) First, the lodging numbers followed by the visitor numbers.
Lodging
“Hotel Occupancy for November was down by 2.4% @ 60.2% vs. 61.7% in 2022,” according to Love Catalina.
“Hotel Occupancy was below three, five and ten-year averages by 2.8%, 1.2% and 5.6% respectively,” according to Love Catalina.
“Visit California has not yet published statewide Hotel Occupancy for the month,” according to Love Catalina.
“Short-Term Rental Occupancy for November was down 5.1% @ 37% vs 39% in 2022,” according to Love Catalina.
“Short-term rental occupancy was below the three and five-year averages by 11.9% and 4.4% respectively, but above the ten-year average by 0.8%,” according to Love Catalina.
“Among our competitive set, Hotels ranked 6th and Short-Term Rental rated 10th in Occupancy (high to low),” according to Love Catalina.
“November Hotel Occupancy was higher than Catalina’s in Monterey, Newport Beach, Palm Springs and Santa Barbara. San Francisco was equal to Catalina with all other destinations being lower,” according to Love Catalina.
Visitor counts
“November visitation increased year-over-year by 14.7% or 10,260 visitors totaling 80,067 arrivals. November 2023 total arrivals set a record for the month beating 2017’s high of 76,132,” according to Love Catalina’s website.
This appeared to be a trend.
“November’s total in-bound passenger count was above the three, five and ten-year averages for the month by 14.2%, 26.2% and 19.2% respectively,” according to Love Catalina’s website.
“Passengers arriving by sea, totaled 77,709, up for the month by 15.6% from last year,” according to Love Catalina.
“Cross Channel Passenger counts were up slightly year-over-year @ 0.7%; an increase of 286 people,” according to Love Catalina.
“November Cross Channel Passenger counts were below the three, five and ten-year averages by 6.6%, 1.8% and 5.4% respectively,” according to Love Catalina.
“Cross Channel Passengers made up 49.57% of total monthly arrivals,” according to Love Catalina.
“Cruise passenger counts totaled 35,263, up by 37.3% from 2022 or by 9,587 visitors,” according to the website.
“2023 had the highest Cruise Passenger volume for the month @ 35,263,” according to the website.
“November Cruise Passenger counts were above the three, five and ten-year averages by 56.8%, 98.3% and 77.8% respectively. Note multi-year averages are greatly impacted by the lack of cruise ships calling during COVID-19’s suspension of operations,” according to the website.
“Cruise Passengers made up 44.04% of total monthly arrivals,” according to the website.
“The number of Cruise Ships calling on Avalon in November was 14,” according to the website.
“November typically has 10 ships call on us,” according to the website.
“Private Boater Passenger counts totaled 2,760, up from last year by 29.7% or 632 visitors,” according to Love Catalina.
“November Private Boater Passenger counts were above the three-year average by 2.9% but below the five and ten-year averages by 3.5% and 5.7% respectively,” according to Love Catalina.
“Private Boaters Made up 3.45% of total monthly arrivals,” according to Love Catalina.
There were 78 more votes in November 2023 than in November 2022, according to the website.
“November’s number of Vessels on Moorings was up 29.7% from last year or by 158 boats,” according to the website.
“November was above the three-year average by 2.9% but below the five and ten-year averages by 1.8% and 3.2% respectively,” according to the website.
“Private Aircraft Passengers (Airport in the Sky) totaled 1,647, down 6.9% or by 123 passengers vs last year,” according to the website.
“Private Aircraft Passengers made up 2.06% of total monthly arrivals,” according to Love Catalina.
Helicopter passengers represented 0.89% of November 2023 arrivals to the Island, according to the website.
