Summary
April 2022 was part of Iceland's spring shoulder season with Easter holiday travel. Foreign guests recorded 234,714 overnight stays in hotels, compared to 17,215 in April 2021—a +1263.4% change year-over-year.
National hotel occupancy stood at 49.8%, up 36.7 percentage points from 13.1% in 2021. Foreign card spending totaled 14.8 billion ISK (+406.8% YoY).
April 2022 in context
Foreign hotel nights for the year to date, January through April, reached 881,248, up 1930.7% on the same period of 2021. Within 2022, April ranked 10th of the twelve months by foreign nights. Against the average for April over the five preceding years (excluding the pandemic years 2020 and 2021), this month came in ahead by 9.8%. Compared with April 2019, the last full year before the pandemic, foreign nights were down 0.3%.
United States of America was the largest source market with 23.1% of foreign hotel nights, and the top three markets together accounted for 55.0%. Hotel occupancy of 49.8% means that share of available rooms was sold across the month; this is typical of Iceland's low season, when many rural hotels close and demand concentrates in Reykjavík. Spending figures are foreign card turnover reported by the Central Bank and exclude cash and purchases made before arrival.
Foreign Overnight Stays by Source Market
The top source markets for April 2022, ranked by overnight stays:
| Rank | Market | Nights 2022 | Nights 2021 | Change | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United States of America | 54,165 | 7,215 | +650.7% | 23.1% |
| 2 | United Kingdom | 51,998 | 803 | +6375.5% | 22.2% |
| 3 | Germany | 22,859 | 1,812 | +1161.5% | 9.7% |
| 4 | France | 13,592 | 404 | +3264.4% | 5.8% |
| 5 | Denmark | 11,272 | 362 | +3013.8% | 4.8% |
| 6 | Netherlands | 9,000 | 170 | +5194.1% | 3.8% |
| 7 | Spain | 7,818 | 578 | +1252.6% | 3.3% |
| 8 | Switzerland (incl. Liechtenstein) | 6,254 | 397 | +1475.3% | 2.7% |
| 9 | Norway | 5,705 | 51 | +11086.3% | 2.4% |
| 10 | Italy | 5,531 | 1,462 | +278.3% | 2.4% |
Hotel Occupancy by Region
Regional hotel occupancy rates for April 2022:
| Region | Occupancy 2022 | Occupancy 2021 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capital Region | 58.7% | 13.1% | +45.6 pp |
| Total | 49.8% | 13.1% | +36.7 pp |
| Reykjanes | 47.6% | 18.8% | +28.8 pp |
| North | 44.6% | 15.4% | +29.2 pp |
| South | 44.6% | 11.6% | +33.0 pp |
| West & Westfjords | 30.7% | 10.7% | +20.0 pp |
| East | 28.7% | 4.7% | +24.0 pp |
Foreign Card Spending
Total foreign card turnover in April 2022 was 14,757.18 million ISK (14.76 billion ISK), compared to 2,911.64 million ISK in April 2021.
This represents a +406.8% year-over-year change.
Domestic Tourism
Icelandic residents recorded 62,819 overnight stays in hotels in April 2022, up 76.1% from 35,664 in 2021.
Data Sources
- Overnight Stays: Statistics Iceland (Hagstofa Íslands) — foreign and domestic guest nights in registered hotels
- Occupancy Rates: Statistics Iceland — room occupancy as % of available hotel capacity
- Card Spending: Central Bank of Iceland (Seðlabanki Íslands) — foreign debit/credit card turnover