Summary
April 2026 was part of Iceland's spring shoulder season with Easter holiday travel. Foreign guests recorded 316,707 overnight stays in hotels, compared to 326,722 in April 2025—a -3.1% change year-over-year.
National hotel occupancy stood at 53.4%, down 3.2 percentage points from 56.6% in 2025. Foreign card spending totaled 21.8 billion ISK (-7.2% YoY).
April 2026 in context
Foreign hotel nights for the year to date, January through April, reached 1,299,030, up 1.5% on the same period of 2025. Against the average for April over the five preceding years (excluding the pandemic years 2020 and 2021), this month came in ahead by 14.9%. Compared with April 2019, the last full year before the pandemic, foreign nights were up 34.5%.
United States of America was the largest source market with 25.2% of foreign hotel nights, and the top three markets together accounted for 46.1%. Hotel occupancy of 53.4% 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 2026, ranked by overnight stays:
| Rank | Market | Nights 2026 | Nights 2025 | Change | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United States of America | 79,948 | 86,130 | -7.2% | 25.2% |
| 2 | United Kingdom | 40,883 | 48,056 | -14.9% | 12.9% |
| 3 | Germany | 25,266 | 28,155 | -10.3% | 8.0% |
| 4 | China | 18,121 | 13,887 | +30.5% | 5.7% |
| 5 | France | 17,915 | 17,642 | +1.5% | 5.7% |
| 6 | Italy | 12,161 | 11,744 | +3.6% | 3.8% |
| 7 | Spain | 12,023 | 14,948 | -19.6% | 3.8% |
| 8 | Netherlands | 11,481 | 11,447 | +0.3% | 3.6% |
| 9 | Other Asian countries | 9,447 | 11,044 | -14.5% | 3.0% |
| 10 | Canada | 9,050 | 6,738 | +34.3% | 2.9% |
Hotel Occupancy by Region
Regional hotel occupancy rates for April 2026:
| Region | Occupancy 2026 | Occupancy 2025 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reykjanes | 65.7% | 62.1% | +3.6 pp |
| Capital Region | 59.7% | 62.0% | -2.3 pp |
| Total | 53.4% | 56.6% | -3.2 pp |
| South | 51.5% | 57.7% | -6.2 pp |
| North | 42.0% | 44.1% | -2.1 pp |
| East | 33.7% | 47.7% | -14.0 pp |
| West & Westfjords | 33.1% | 36.6% | -3.5 pp |
Foreign Card Spending
Total foreign card turnover in April 2026 was 21,780.07 million ISK (21.78 billion ISK), compared to 23,476.39 million ISK in April 2025.
This represents a -7.2% year-over-year change.
Domestic Tourism
Icelandic residents recorded 46,182 overnight stays in hotels in April 2026, up 1.2% from 45,627 in 2025.
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