Overnight stays at hotels in Iceland in December were nearly 335,000 or approximately 13.4% more than in 2023 when they were 295,000. Overnight stays increased significantly in all regions except in the East (-1.9%) with the greatest increase occurring in the South (22.9%) and Southwest (17.0%) regions. Approximately 13.3% increase was in the North and 10.9% in the Capital region. Lastly, overnight stays increased modestly by 1.7% in the West and Westfjords.
Supply of hotel bedrooms increased by nearly 2.1% in December compared with the same time in 2023. The greatest increase was in the Southwest or 15.3% but significant increases also occurred in the South (9.3%) and West and Westfjords (6.6%). Little changes were in the Capital region (0.9%). However, significant declines in the supply of hotel bedrooms were in the East (-34.5%) and to a lesser extent in the North (-5.3%).
Occupancy rates increased in all regions except in the West and Westfjords region (-1.1 percentage points). In total, occupancy rates for the country increased by 6.1 percentage points with the greatest increase being in the Capital region (7.9 percentage points). Occupancy rates also increased markedly in the East (5.7 percentage points) and South (6.1 percentage points). Smaller changes were in the North (2.0 percentage points) and Southwest (0.7 percentage points).
When all accommodations were considered the total number of registered overnight stays in December were roughly 454,000. This was an increase of 12.2% compared with the same month in 2023 when the total was nearly 405,000. The majority of overnight stays was registered in hotels and guesthouses or roughly 379,000 (335,000 in hotels and 44,000 in guesthouses). The rest, or 75,000, was attributable to other types of accommodation (camping sites, cottages, etc.). Overall, the total overnight stays in 2024 amounted to nearly 9.6 million which was 0.3% more than in 2023. Thus, 2024 was a record year in the tourism industry in terms of the number overnight stays in Iceland.
6.4 million overnight stays in 2024
Overnight stays in hotels and guesthouses totalled roughly 6.4 million compared with 6.6 million in 2023. This was a decrease of nearly 135 thousand or 2.1%. Overnight stays in other types of accommodation were 3.2 million which was 300 thousand more than in 2023 when they were 2.9 million. Lastly, the number of overnight stays in hotels decreased by 0.3% from 5.258.000 in 2023 to 5.240.300 in 2024.
The number of overnight stays in hotels decreased in all regions except in the South where the increase was 6.1%. The greatest decrease was in the East (-17.3%) and Southwest (-8.5%). Like in previous years the majority of overnight stays was attributable to the Capital region or 53% while nearly one fourth belonged to the South.
Revision of data categorisation by nationality
Data on overnight stays by nationality is currently undergoing revisions. While this analysis is in process no data on the number of overnight stays by nationality will be published. The revision, however, does not affect the total number of overnight stays (by type of accommodation or region) but rather only the breakdown by nationality.
Furthermore, data on overnight stays by nationality is used as input in estimating the number of unlisted overnight stays. For that reason, it is also not possible to publish results on the number of unlisted overnight stays for the month of December 2024.
About the data
All numbers for 2024 are preliminary except data on overnight stays at hotels which are preliminary for December 2024.