Visitors continued to come to Catalina in December 2021, in numbers greater than 2020 (when travel was virtually at a stand-still), but not so great as in 2019, according to Love Catalina Island. The non-profit business advocacy group recently released the numbers for last December.
“December 2021’s total of 48,694 fell short of December 2019’s pre COVID-19 total arrivals of 56,595,” according to Love Catalina Island.
“Despite ongoing impacts from COVID-19 on travel, December visitation increased significantly year-over-year, resulting in an overall increase by 294% or 36,335 visitors over the same month last year,” according to the Love Catalina Island website.
“December’s total in-bound passenger count was above the three-year average of 39,216 and was on par with the five and ten-year averages of 48,396 and 48,140 respectively,” according to Love Catalina.
The ocean remains, and is likely to always be, the most popular way to get to the Island. “Passengers arriving by sea, including private boaters, totaled 47,018 for the month of December, up by 321.6% from last year,” according to the website.
“December Cross Channel Passenger counts were up year-over-year by 207.5% or an increase of 20,505 people,” according to the Love Catalina website.
“2014 had the highest volume for the month @ 39,960 passengers,” according to the Love Catalina website.
“2020 had the lowest volume for the month @ 9,883,” according to the Love Catalina website.
“Cross Channel Passengers made up 62.4% of total monthly arrivals,” according to the Love Catalina website.
“Cruise passenger counts totaled 15,794,” according to the website.
Nine cruise ships visited Avalon last December, according to the website. A different page on the Love Catalina site reports 10 cruise ships are scheduled to visit Catalina in February. (Ten were scheduled in January 2022, but January visitor counts are not yet available.)
“2016 had the greatest number of ships @ 11,” according to the Love Catalina website.
“2020 had the lowest number of ships @ 0, pre-COVID-19 2018 had the lowest number @ 10,” according to Love Catalina.
“Private Boater Passenger counts were down year-over-year @ 836 vs. 1,268 in 2020,” according to Love Catalina.
“Private Boaters Made up 1.7% of total monthly arrivals,” according to Love Catalina.
“Combined in-bound air passenger counts for December totaled 1,693, up from 1,219 in 2020,” according to Love Catalina.
“December Private Aircraft Passengers made up 2.2% of total monthly arrivals,” according to Love Catalina.
“Hotel Occupancy for December 2021 was 57.5%, up from 31.4% in 2020,” according to Love Catalina.
“December 2021 Hotel Occupancy exceeded Monterey, but was below Palm Springs, San Diego, Huntington Beach, Anaheim, San Francisco and Santa Barbra in our competitive set,” according to Love Catalina.
“Hotel Average Daily Rate was $173.38, up from $117.14 in 2020,” according to Love Catalina.
“Hotel Revenue Per Available Room was $99.74, up from $36.74 in 2020,” according to Love Catalina.
“Short-Term Rental Occupancy for December was 41%, up from 28% in 2020,” according to Love Catalina.
