Summary
August 2025 was part of Iceland's peak summer season, characterized by midnight sun and maximum tourist activity. Foreign guests recorded 618,454 overnight stays in hotels, compared to 516,302 in August 2024—a +19.8% change year-over-year.
National hotel occupancy stood at 89.8%, up 3.7 percentage points from 86.1% in 2024. Foreign card spending totaled 51.0 billion ISK (+6.0% YoY).
August 2025 in context
Foreign hotel nights for the year to date, January through August, reached 3,344,245, up 12.6% on the same period of 2024. Within 2025, August ranked 1st of the twelve months by foreign nights. Against the average for August over the five preceding years (excluding the pandemic years 2020 and 2021), this month came in ahead by 22.7%. Compared with August 2019, the last full year before the pandemic, foreign nights were up 27.6%.
United States of America was the largest source market with 33.2% of foreign hotel nights, and the top three markets together accounted for 50.1%. Hotel occupancy of 89.8% means that share of available rooms was sold across the month; at this level most hotels in the capital are effectively full on peak nights. 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 August 2025, ranked by overnight stays:
| Rank | Market | Nights 2025 | Nights 2024 | Change | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United States of America | 205,202 | 196,240 | +4.6% | 33.2% |
| 2 | Germany | 60,799 | 49,193 | +23.6% | 9.8% |
| 3 | Italy | 43,641 | 33,354 | +30.8% | 7.1% |
| 4 | China | 37,690 | 20,143 | +87.1% | 6.1% |
| 5 | Spain | 33,037 | 23,492 | +40.6% | 5.3% |
| 6 | United Kingdom | 31,457 | 29,790 | +5.6% | 5.1% |
| 7 | France | 31,221 | 27,562 | +13.3% | 5.0% |
| 8 | Canada | 20,077 | 15,069 | +33.2% | 3.2% |
| 9 | Netherlands | 15,461 | 14,195 | +8.9% | 2.5% |
| 10 | Other Asian countries | 13,015 | 9,315 | +39.7% | 2.1% |
Hotel Occupancy by Region
Regional hotel occupancy rates for August 2025:
| Region | Occupancy 2025 | Occupancy 2024 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| South | 93.1% | 89.9% | +3.2 pp |
| Capital Region | 92.1% | 89.2% | +2.9 pp |
| Total | 89.8% | 86.1% | +3.7 pp |
| East | 89.6% | 81.4% | +8.2 pp |
| Reykjanes | 86.7% | 80.5% | +6.2 pp |
| North | 85.8% | 81.1% | +4.7 pp |
| West & Westfjords | 75.0% | 72.0% | +3.0 pp |
Foreign Card Spending
Total foreign card turnover in August 2025 was 50,958.16 million ISK (50.96 billion ISK), compared to 48,064.87 million ISK in August 2024.
This represents a +6.0% year-over-year change.
Domestic Tourism
Icelandic residents recorded 51,110 overnight stays in hotels in August 2025, down 44.7% from 92,447 in 2024.
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