In August 2017, overnight stays in hotels were 457,600, which is an increase of 2% compared with August 2016. Around 53% of all overnight stays were in the Capital region, or 243,600, which is a 2% increase compared with August 2016. Overnight stays in the Southwest region were 28,600, which is an increase of 33% from the previous year. The number of hotel bedrooms in the Southwest increased over the same period by 64%. There was an increase of overnight stays in the West and Westfjords (4%), as well as in the South region (3%), while there was a decrease of overnight stays in the North (11%) and the East (3%) compared with August 2016.
Non-residents with the most overnight stays in Iceland in August were from the USA (129,200), Germany (57,800) and UK (39,000), while overnight stays of Icelanders in August were 32,100. Nights spent by foreign tourists accounted for 93% of the total number of overnight stays in August, and increased by 3% compared with August 2016. At the same time, the overnight stays of Icelanders decreased by 9%.
Over the last twelve months, from September 2016 to August 2017, overnight stays in hotels were 4,197,000, which is an increase of approximately 21% compared with the previous year.
87% occupancy rate for bedrooms in August 2017
Occupancy rate for bedrooms in hotels was 87.4% in August 2017, which is a decrease of 3.1 points from August 2016, when it was 90.5%. Over the same period, the number of hotel bedrooms has increased by 5.8%. The occupancy rate for bedrooms was highest in the capital region, or 89.4%.
| Overnight stays in hotels | ||||||
| August | September–August | |||||
| 2016 | 2017 | % | 2015-2016 | 2016-2017 | % | |
| Total | 447,158 | 457,609 | 2 | 3,460,915 | 4,197,140 | 21 |
| Capital region | 237,976 | 243,579 | 2 | 2,225,703 | 2,589,644 | 16 |
| Southwest | 21,446 | 28,570 | 33 | 164,120 | 290,291 | 77 |
| West and Westfjords | 28,206 | 29,217 | 4 | 158,911 | 178,650 | 12 |
| Northwest and Northeast | 49,964 | 44,337 | -11 | 254,411 | 283,355 | 11 |
| East | 22,698 | 22,011 | -3 | 98,222 | 107,089 | 9 |
| South | 86,868 | 89,895 | 3 | 559,548 | 748,111 | 34 |
| Icelanders | 35,322 | 32,108 | -9 | 368,682 | 430,582 | 17 |
| Foreign visitors | 411,836 | 425,501 | 3 | 3,092,233 | 3,766,558 | 22 |
The above data only show overnight stays in hotels that are operating for the whole year. Guesthouses and summer hotels are not included in this category.
Numbers for 2017 are preliminary. Statistics Iceland is currently reviewing methods for evaluating data on overnight stays with respect to nationalities of tourists. This does not affect the number of overnight stays, but might affect the distribution with respect to Icelanders vs. non-residents. This work will be done before the final publication of overnight stays for all types of accommodation for 2017.