According to the first figures, overnight stays at registered accommodations in the year 2022 were 8.8 million compared with 5 millions in 2021 and increased by 77% between years. Icelandic overnights were 21% thereof, or 1.9 millions which is a 4% decrease since the year before. 79% of overnight stays were foreign or around 6.9 million compared with 3.1 in 2021. Overnight stays at hotels and guesthouse were 6 million (thereof 4.7 million at hotels) and around 2.9 million in other types of accommodation (apartments, cottages, etc.).
Statistics Iceland is now publishing the estimated number of unregistered overnight stays for the period from May to December 2022. It is estimated that foreign overnight stays in home accommodation through Airbnb over this period were around 969,000, overnight stays in camper vans other than in camping areas were around 66,000, and about 215,000 were with friends and relatives. In December, it is estimated that there were around 56,000 foreign overnight stays through Airbnb and around 25,000 with friends and relatives, while the number of foreign overnight stays in camper vans was negligible. Estimated figures for the number of unregistered foreign overnight stays between June 2021 and April 2022 are being worked on.
In December 2022, there were 454,400 overnight stays in Iceland which is a 66% increase between years (273,200). Foreign overnight stays were 78% thereof, or 354,500, which is a 72% increase from the previous year (205,800). Domestic overnight stays were 99,900 which is a 48% increase from the previous year (57,100). Overnight stays in hotels and guesthouses were 356,800 while 97,600 were in other types of accommodation (apartments, cottages, campsites etc.).
Overnight stays in hotels were 4,699,500 in the year 2022 which is a 91% increase from the year before. There was a marked increase in all regions.
There were 316,300 overnight stays in hotels in December, characterised by an increase in all regions from December 2021. Foreign overnight stays at hotels were 252,400 or 80% of overnight stays at hotels while the Icelandic overnights were 63,900 (20%). Foreign overnight stays increased by 62% between years and the Icelandic by 36%.
The number of hotel bedrooms increased by 4% in December 2022 compared with December the year before. Occupancy rate for hotel rooms was 50.8%, which is an increase of 15.9 percentage points from December 2021.
A border study has been carried out at Keflavík Airport by the Icelandic Tourist Board and Statistics Iceland since June 2017 and Statistics Iceland published 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 April 2020 to May 2021, and these estimations were discontinued in the summer of 2020.
All numbers for 2022 are preliminary, except for hotel data which is preliminary for December 2022. 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.