Overnight stays in all accommodation in April 2019 were 504,000, compared with 536,000 in April last year. Overnight stays in hotels and guesthouses were 336,000, overnight stays in apartments, youth hostels, campsites etc. were 87,000, and overnight stays through websites such as Airbnb were approximately 80,000.
There was a 6.0% decrease in the number of overnight stays in April between years, thereof a 3.7% decrease in hotels and guesthouses, 2.5% decrease in other types of accommodation and an 18% decrease in private accommodation through Airbnb etc.
Additionally, overnight stays in cars other than at campsites were 7,000 and the number of overnight stays with friends and relatives, through exchanges or in other places where no payment was made, was 25,000. Estimates of unregistered overnight stays are temporary and subject to change as further information becomes available, such as on VAT turnover, supply and occupancy rates of establishments offering accommodation through Airbnb.
14% decrease in stays at hotels in Capital region, 9.5% increase elsewhere
Overnight stays in hotels in April 2019 were 265,400, which is a 5% decrease from April last year. Overnight stays in hotels in the Capital region decreased by 25,100 (-14.3%), whereas there was an increase of 10,000 overnight stays in other regions (9.5%), which were fairly equally distributed across the countryside. Around 56% of all overnight stays were in the Capital region, or 149,900.
Over the most recent 12 month period, from May 2018 to April 2019, the total number of overnight stays in hotels was 4,415,000, which is a 3% increase from the previous 12 months.
| Overnight stays in hotels | ||||||
| April | May-April | |||||
| 2018 | 2019 | % | 2017-2018 | 2018-2019 | % | |
| Total | 280,446 | 265,375 | -5 | 4,300,747 | 4,414,915 | 3 |
| Capital region | 174,993 | 149,894 | -14 | 2,596,595 | 2,522,178 | -3 |
| Southwest | 18,624 | 20,656 | 11 | 293,393 | 307,952 | 5 |
| West and Westfjords | 11,529 | 13,892 | 20 | 197,080 | 254,803 | 29 |
| Northwest and Northe | 19,549 | 20,916 | 7 | 307,074 | 326,570 | 6 |
| East | 4,099 | 6,443 | 57 | 108,191 | 106,092 | -2 |
| South | 51,652 | 53,574 | 4 | 798,414 | 897,320 | 12 |
| Citizenship | ||||||
| Icelanders | 45,359 | 36,364 | -20 | 420,640 | 437,631 | 4 |
| Foreign visitors | 235,087 | 229,011 | -3 | 3,880,107 | 3,977,284 | 3 |
Occupancy rate for bedrooms in hotels was about 48.6% in April 2019, and decreased by 5.7 percentage points from April 2018, when it was about 54.4%. Over the same period, the number of hotel bedrooms has increased by 5.6%. The occupancy rate for bedrooms in April was highest in the Southwest area, or 58.9%.
| Supply and occupancy rates of hotel bedrooms | ||||||
| Number of Hotel bedrooms in March | Room occupancy rate in March | |||||
| 2018 | 2019 | % | 2018 | 2019 | pp | |
| Total | 9,718 | 10,266 | 5.6% | 54.4% | 48.6% | -5.7 |
| Capital region | 5,014 | 5,085 | 1.4% | 66.1% | 56.5% | -9.6 |
| Southwest | 631 | 634 | 0.5% | 56.6% | 58.9% | 2.3 |
| West and Westfjords | 632 | 777 | 22.9% | 33.9% | 33.5% | -0.5 |
| North | 1,010 | 1,164 | 15.2% | 37.0% | 35.6% | -1.4 |
| East | 349 | 441 | 26.4% | 22.0% | 28.0% | 6.0 |
| South | 2,082 | 2,165 | 4.0% | 45.6% | 43.9% | -1.6 |
Nights spent by foreign tourists in hotels were 229,000, which accounted for 86% of the total number of overnight stays in April. USA residents had the greatest number of overnight stays (66,100), then residents of the UK (36,600) and Germany (19,700). Overnight stays of Icelanders in April were 36,400.
Numbers for 2019 are preliminary.