In April 2023, there were 563,000 overnight stays in Iceland which exceeded April in all previous years. This is an 23% increase between years (458,900) and an 17% increase from previous record year 2017 (480,300).
Foreign overnight stays were 78% of overnight stays, or 441,000, which is a 33% increase from the previous year (332,300). Domestic overnight stays were 122,000 which is a 4% decrease from the previous year (126,600). Overnight stays in hotels and guesthouses were 430,000 while 133,000 were in other types of accommodation (apartments, cottages, campsites etc.). It is estimated that foreign overnight stays in unregistered home accommodation in April were around 98,000.
There were 366,700 overnight stays in hotels in April which is a 25% increase from the previous year (292,500). This increase is characterised by an increase in all regions, with the North region being the exception. Foreign overnight stays at hotels were 293,400, or 80% of overnight stays at hotels, while the Icelandic overnights were 73,300 (20%). Foreign overnight stays increased by 36% whereas there was a 5% decrease in domestic overnight stays.
The number of hotel bedrooms increased by 5.9% in April 2023 compared with April the year before. Occupancy rate for hotel rooms was 58.0%, which is an increase of 7.9 percentage points from April 2022.
Foreign overnight stays in home accommodation through Airbnb in April are estimated to have been around 98,000. Overnight stays in camper vans other than in camping areas were around 1,200 in April while there were 24,000 staying with friends and relatives.
A border study has been carried out at Keflavík Airport by the Icelandic Tourist Board and Statistics Iceland since June 2017 and Statistics Iceland publishes the estimated number of unregistered foreign overnight based on its results. Therein were estimates for overnight stays in homestays brokered through Airbnb, as well as overnight stays in campers and caravans outside paid camping areas and with friends and relatives. Due to the large decrease in the number of departures from Keflavík Airport following the Covid-19 pandemic, the border study was suspended from May 2020 to May 2021, and these estimations were discontinued in the summer of 2020.
All numbers for 2022 and 2023 are preliminary, except for hotel data which is preliminary for April 2023. Due to abrupt changes in supply and occupancy rates, estimation for other types of accommodation than hotels is currently subject to a higher degree of uncertainty than usual and should therefore be taken with a special precaution until final numbers are available.