Tourism short-term indicators are a part of Statistics Iceland’s tourism statistics. The indicators show the latest descriptive statistics for the tourism sector in Iceland. The indicators are updated every month with the latest figures as they become available.
This release includes updated statistics on overnight stays and the latest statistics on spending of foreign travelers, VAT-turnover in activities related to tourism and employees in activities related to tourism. Also released are updated statistics on rental cars from the Icelandic transport authority, key statistics for traffic on the ring road from the Icelandic Road Administration along with a count from the Icelandic Tourist board on passengers departing Iceland.
Graph 1: The graph shows how hotel room supply and occupancy has changed from 2010-2018
Graph 2: Traffic is measured with 14 counters located on the ring road in Iceland. The counters are independent from each other and count vehicles in both directions. Data is used from the Icelandic Road Administration and on its web page.
| Tourism short-term indicators | November | December - November1 | ||||||
| Overnight stays | 2017 | 2018 | % | 2016-2017 | 2017-2018 | % | ||
| Total overnight stays | 564400 | 566000 | + | 0% | .. | .. | - | |
| Hotels and guesthouses | 353600 | 351200 | - | -1% | 5570905 | 5790374 | + | 4% |
| Airbnb and similar sites1 | 95000 | 83000 | - | -13% | 1816000 | 1742000 | - | -4% |
| Other types of listed accommodation2 | 95800 | 107800 | + | 13% | 2806804 | 3209693 | + | 14% |
| Cars outside of camping sites1 | 5000 | 6000 | + | 20% | 305500 | 263900 | - | -14% |
| Other unpaid overnight stays1 | 15000 | 18000 | + | 20% | 316000 | 281000 | - | -11% |
| November | December - November | |||||||
| Occupancy rate of hotel rooms | 2017 | 2018 | % | 2016-2017 | 2017-2018 | % | ||
| Total overnight stays in hotels | 304696 | 306483 | + | 1% | 4260425 | 4459635 | + | 5% |
| Available hotel rooms | 9217 | 10124 | + | 10% | 108985 | 119101 | + | 9% |
| Occupancy rate | 62,7% | 57,6% | - | -5,1 | 72,6% | 68,3% | - | -4,3 |
| Q3 | Q4 - Q3 | |||||||
| Balance of trade in services (million ISK) | 2017 | 2018 | % | 2016-2017 | 2017-2018 | % | ||
| Revenue from non-Icelandic tourists | 188.701,1 | 193.989,4 | + | 3% | 495.608,2 | 512.083,5 | + | 3% |
| - Passenger flights | 66.883,7 | 69.510,8 | + | 4% | 180.009,4 | 182.207,1 | + | 1% |
| - Consumption | 121.817,4 | 124.478,6 | + | 2% | 315.598,8 | 329.876,4 | + | 5% |
| July - August | September - August | |||||||
| VAT turnover (million ISK) | 2017 | 2018 | % | 2016-2017 | 2017-2018 | % | ||
| Total turnover | 154041 | 165764 | + | 7,6% | 622465 | 677244 | + | 8,8% |
| - Accommodation | 26637 | 27240 | + | 2,3% | 92512 | 96321 | + | 4,1% |
| - Passenger flights | 61719 | 69304 | + | 12,3% | 258794 | 295601 | + | 14,2% |
| - Catering and services | 19117 | 19355 | + | 1,2% | 93937 | 98316 | + | 4,7% |
| - Travel Agents and planners | 28660 | 31738 | + | 10,7% | 104882 | 113251 | + | 8,0% |
| - Car rentals | 12640 | 12767 | + | 1,0% | 50110 | 50879 | + | 1,5% |
| - Passenger transport on land | 5268 | 5360 | + | 1,7% | 22231 | 22875 | + | 2,9% |
| Employees3 | September | Average Employees October - September | ||||||
| 2017 | 2018 | % | 2016-2017 | 2017-2018 | % | |||
| Total employees in key tourism sectors | 30000 | 30200 | + | 0,7% | 28600 | 29500 | + | 3,1% |
| - Accommodation | 5200 | 5800 | + | 12,7% | 4500 | 5100 | + | 13,3% |
| - Passenger flights | 7400 | 7400 | - | 0,0% | 6600 | 6800 | + | 2,3% |
| - Catering and services | 11100 | 10800 | - | -3,2% | 10700 | 10700 | - | 0,4% |
| - Travel Agents and planners | 4300 | 4400 | + | 2,2% | 4000 | 4100 | + | 2,8% |
| - Other tourism sectors | 3000 | 3000 | - | -1,9% | 2800 | 2800 | - | -1,4% |
| December | Average January - December | |||||||
| Rental cars4 | 2017 | 2018 | % | 2017 | 2018 | % | ||
| Total rental cars | 23987 | 25078 | + | 4,5% | 23367 | 25206 | + | 7,9% |
| Rental cars (active) | 20626 | 22015 | + | 6,7% | 21472 | 23240 | + | 8,2% |
| Rental cars (inactive) | 3361 | 3063 | - | -8,9% | 1895 | 1965 | + | 3,7% |
| December | January - December | |||||||
| Traffic on roads5 | 2017 | 2018 | % | 2017 | 2018 | % | ||
| South Iceland | 10809 | 11365 | + | 5% | 167687 | 180170 | + | 7% |
| West Iceland | 9553 | 10166 | + | 6% | 159308 | 164700 | + | 3% |
| North Iceland | 4691 | 4748 | + | 1% | 100819 | 103317 | + | 2% |
| East Iceland | 1161 | 1214 | + | 5% | 26003 | 27771 | + | 7% |
| November | December - November | |||||||
| Passengers6 | 2017 | 2018 | % | 2016-2017 | 2017-2018 | % | ||
| Total Passengers | 196566 | 201503 | + | 3% | 2799729 | 2977726 | + | 6% |
| - Icelandic nationality | 144641 | 150058 | + | 4% | 2184811 | 2313935 | + | 6% |
| - Other nationality | 51925 | 51445 | - | -1% | 614918 | 663791 | + | 8% |
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1 Data for Airbnb, overnight stays in cars outside camping sites and other unpaid overnight stays is shown for the period January - November due to insufficient data to estimate 2016 airbnb accommodation
2 Other accommodations are camping sites, youth hostels, holiday centres, lodges in wilderness, apartments, sleeping-bag facilities and private-home accommodation.
3 Numbers rounded off to nearest hundred.
4 According to data from Icelandic transport authority.
5 According to numbers from Icelandic Road Administration. Monthly numbers show the average number of cars each month. 12 month rolling period specifies the total number of cars during the period. Data is used from 14 counters located on the ring road.
6 According to numbers from Icelandic Tourist Board.
Short term indicators in tourism
Accommodation