Summary
December 2016 was part of Iceland's shoulder season. Foreign guests recorded 261,811 overnight stays in hotels, compared to 163,538 in December 2015—a +60.1% change year-over-year.
National hotel occupancy stood at 63.5%, up 16.9 percentage points from 46.6% in 2015. Foreign card spending totaled 14.9 billion ISK (+58.2% YoY).
Foreign Overnight Stays by Source Market
The top source markets for December 2016, ranked by overnight stays:
| Rank | Market | Nights 2016 | Nights 2015 | Change | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United Kingdom | 90,505 | 61,854 | +46.3% | 34.6% |
| 2 | United States of America | 66,660 | 36,769 | +81.3% | 25.5% |
| 3 | China | 16,901 | 7,278 | +132.2% | 6.5% |
| 4 | Germany | 16,080 | 12,418 | +29.5% | 6.1% |
| 5 | Other Asian countries | 13,011 | 4,800 | +171.1% | 5.0% |
| 6 | France | 7,846 | 4,784 | +64.0% | 3.0% |
| 7 | Japan | 7,725 | 5,994 | +28.9% | 3.0% |
| 8 | Netherlands | 5,346 | 3,399 | +57.3% | 2.0% |
| 9 | Spain | 5,173 | 2,327 | +122.3% | 2.0% |
| 10 | Canada | 4,139 | 3,838 | +7.8% | 1.6% |
Hotel Occupancy by Region
Regional hotel occupancy rates for December 2016:
| Region | Occupancy 2016 | Occupancy 2015 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capital Region | 84.7% | 65.6% | +19.1 pp |
| Reykjanes | 65.6% | 39.2% | +26.4 pp |
| Total | 63.5% | 46.6% | +16.9 pp |
| South | 50.4% | 23.9% | +26.5 pp |
| West & Westfjords | 21.8% | 13.3% | +8.5 pp |
| North | 16.2% | 14.0% | +2.2 pp |
| East | 8.4% | 6.3% | +2.1 pp |
Foreign Card Spending
Total foreign card turnover in December 2016 was 14,937.77 million ISK (14.94 billion ISK), compared to 9,444.93 million ISK in December 2015.
This represents a +58.2% year-over-year change.
Domestic Tourism
Icelandic residents recorded 28,554 overnight stays in hotels in December 2016, up 35.0% from 21,156 in 2015.
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