Summary
December 2015 was part of Iceland's shoulder season. Foreign guests recorded 163,538 overnight stays in hotels, compared to 111,944 in December 2014—a +46.1% change year-over-year.
National hotel occupancy stood at 46.6%, up 3.6 percentage points from 43.0% in 2014. Foreign card spending totaled 9.4 billion ISK (+44.5% YoY).
December 2015 in context
Foreign hotel nights for the year to date, January through December, reached 2,547,149, up 29.4% on the same period of 2014. Within 2015, December ranked 10th of the twelve months by foreign nights. Against the average for December over the five preceding years, this month came in ahead by 120.8%.
United Kingdom was the largest source market with 37.8% of foreign hotel nights, and the top three markets together accounted for 67.9%. Hotel occupancy of 46.6% 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 December 2015, ranked by overnight stays:
| Rank | Market | Nights 2015 | Nights 2014 | Change | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United Kingdom | 61,854 | 47,692 | +29.7% | 37.8% |
| 2 | United States of America | 36,769 | 22,443 | +63.8% | 22.5% |
| 3 | Germany | 12,418 | 5,903 | +110.4% | 7.6% |
| 4 | China | 7,278 | 2,494 | +191.8% | 4.5% |
| 5 | Japan | 5,994 | 3,506 | +71.0% | 3.7% |
| 6 | Other Asian countries | 4,800 | 2,112 | +127.3% | 2.9% |
| 7 | France | 4,784 | 4,308 | +11.0% | 2.9% |
| 8 | Canada | 3,838 | 1,951 | +96.7% | 2.3% |
| 9 | Sweden | 3,517 | 3,618 | -2.8% | 2.2% |
| 10 | Netherlands | 3,399 | 2,476 | +37.3% | 2.1% |
Hotel Occupancy by Region
Regional hotel occupancy rates for December 2015:
| Region | Occupancy 2015 | Occupancy 2014 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capital Region | 65.6% | 62.0% | +3.6 pp |
| Total | 46.6% | 43.0% | +3.6 pp |
| Reykjanes | 39.2% | 39.2% | +0.0 pp |
| South | 23.9% | 18.2% | +5.7 pp |
| North | 14.0% | 13.8% | +0.2 pp |
| West & Westfjords | 13.3% | 11.8% | +1.5 pp |
| East | 6.3% | 3.7% | +2.6 pp |
Foreign Card Spending
Total foreign card turnover in December 2015 was 9,444.93 million ISK (9.44 billion ISK), compared to 6,534.42 million ISK in December 2014.
This represents a +44.5% year-over-year change.
Domestic Tourism
Icelandic residents recorded 21,156 overnight stays in hotels in December 2015, down 1.1% from 21,400 in 2014.
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