In June 2017, overnight stays in hotels were 392,900, which is an increase of 6% compared with June 2016. Around 55% of all overnight stays were in the Capital region, or 217,800, which is a 3% increase compared with June 2016. Overnight stays in the Southwest region were 25,800, which is an increase of 55% from the previous year. There was also an increase of 11% in the South region, with overnight stays of 73,200. Overnight stays were 23,000 in the West and Westfjords, and 16,200 in the East, which in both cases is a 3% decrease compared with June 2016.
Non-residents with the most overnight stays in Iceland in June were from the USA (113,300), Germany (61,600) and UK (33,600), while overnight stays of Icelanders in June were 23,800. Nights spent by foreign tourists accounted for 94% of the total number of overnight stays in June, and increased by 8% compared with June 2016. At the same time, the overnight stays of Icelanders decreased by 15%. A recently adopted method of validation of nationalities affects the ratio of resident vs. non-resident overnight stays. The decrease in overnight stays of Icelanders might in part be an indication of an overestimation of the proportion of Icelanders in previous publications with respect to nationalities.
Over the last twelve months, from July 2016 to June 2017, overnight stays in hotels were 4,165,000, which is an increase of approximately 27% compared with the previous year.
81% occupancy rate for bedrooms in June 2017
Occupancy rate for bedrooms in hotels was 81.0% in June 2017, which is a decrease of 0.5 points from June 2016, when it was 81.5%. Over the same period, the number of hotel bedrooms has increased by 8.5%. The occupancy rate for bedrooms was highest in the capital region, or 87.6%.
| Overnight stays in hotels | ||||||
| June | July–June | |||||
| 2016 | 2017 | % | 2015-2016 | 2016-2017 | % | |
| Total | 369,243 | 392,894 | 6 | 3,273,902 | 4,165,232 | 27 |
| Capital region | 210,770 | 217,819 | 3 | 2,126,839 | 2,582,203 | 21 |
| Southwest | 16,699 | 25,841 | 55 | 156,366 | 256,520 | 64 |
| West and Westfjords | 23,646 | 23,020 | -3 | 141,804 | 182,035 | 28 |
| Northwest and Northeast | 35,264 | 36,753 | 4 | 226,375 | 295,296 | 30 |
| East | 16,694 | 16,227 | -3 | 89,136 | 109,460 | 23 |
| South | 66,170 | 73,234 | 11 | 533,382 | 739,718 | 39 |
| Icelanders | 27,963 | 23,840 | -15 | 353,538 | 428,464 | 21 |
| Foreign visitors | 341,280 | 369,054 | 8 | 2,920,364 | 3,736,768 | 28 |
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.
Further updates of tables for previous years to adjust for the transfer of Höfn municipality from the East region to the South are still being worked on.