Summary
April 2023 was part of Iceland's spring shoulder season with Easter holiday travel. Foreign guests recorded 310,536 overnight stays in hotels, compared to 234,714 in April 2022—a +32.3% change year-over-year.
National hotel occupancy stood at 58.1%, up 8.3 percentage points from 49.8% in 2022. Foreign card spending totaled 20.5 billion ISK (+38.7% YoY).
April 2023 in context
Foreign hotel nights for the year to date, January through April, reached 1,270,726, up 44.2% on the same period of 2022. Within 2023, 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 34.2%. Compared with April 2019, the last full year before the pandemic, foreign nights were up 31.8%.
United States of America was the largest source market with 27.5% of foreign hotel nights, and the top three markets together accounted for 55.9%. Hotel occupancy of 58.1% 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 2023, ranked by overnight stays:
| Rank | Market | Nights 2023 | Nights 2022 | Change | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United States of America | 85,407 | 54,165 | +57.7% | 27.5% |
| 2 | United Kingdom | 58,943 | 51,998 | +13.4% | 19.0% |
| 3 | Germany | 29,115 | 22,859 | +27.4% | 9.4% |
| 4 | France | 14,747 | 13,592 | +8.5% | 4.7% |
| 5 | Netherlands | 10,206 | 9,000 | +13.4% | 3.3% |
| 6 | Spain | 10,173 | 7,818 | +30.1% | 3.3% |
| 7 | Denmark | 9,141 | 11,272 | -18.9% | 2.9% |
| 8 | Italy | 8,683 | 5,531 | +57.0% | 2.8% |
| 9 | Other Asian countries | 7,989 | 2,252 | +254.8% | 2.6% |
| 10 | Sweden | 6,661 | 5,515 | +20.8% | 2.1% |
Hotel Occupancy by Region
Regional hotel occupancy rates for April 2023:
| Region | Occupancy 2023 | Occupancy 2022 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capital Region | 66.1% | 58.7% | +7.4 pp |
| Reykjanes | 60.9% | 47.6% | +13.3 pp |
| South | 60.5% | 44.6% | +15.9 pp |
| Total | 58.1% | 49.8% | +8.3 pp |
| North | 40.3% | 44.6% | -4.3 pp |
| East | 37.7% | 28.7% | +9.0 pp |
| West & Westfjords | 34.0% | 30.7% | +3.3 pp |
Foreign Card Spending
Total foreign card turnover in April 2023 was 20,463.75 million ISK (20.46 billion ISK), compared to 14,757.18 million ISK in April 2022.
This represents a +38.7% year-over-year change.
Domestic Tourism
Icelandic residents recorded 55,209 overnight stays in hotels in April 2023, down 12.1% from 62,819 in 2022.
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