Summary
December 2020 was part of Iceland's shoulder season. Foreign guests recorded 4,260 overnight stays in hotels, compared to 274,977 in December 2019—a -98.5% change year-over-year.
National hotel occupancy stood at 6.3%, down 45.1 percentage points from 51.4% in 2019. Foreign card spending totaled 1.7 billion ISK (-86.9% YoY).
December 2020 in context
Foreign hotel nights for the year to date, January through December, reached 991,843, down 75.8% on the same period of 2019. Within 2020, December ranked 10th of the twelve months by foreign nights. Against the average for December over the five preceding years, this month came in behind by 98.3%.
United States of America was the largest source market with 20.8% of foreign hotel nights, and the top three markets together accounted for 44.2%. Hotel occupancy of 6.3% 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 2020, ranked by overnight stays:
| Rank | Market | Nights 2020 | Nights 2019 | Change | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United States of America | 885 | 60,110 | -98.5% | 20.8% |
| 2 | United Kingdom | 581 | 69,027 | -99.2% | 13.6% |
| 3 | Germany | 419 | 13,594 | -96.9% | 9.8% |
| 4 | Poland | 349 | 2,083 | -83.2% | 8.2% |
| 5 | Italy | 286 | 2,592 | -89.0% | 6.7% |
| 6 | Spain | 244 | 5,526 | -95.6% | 5.7% |
| 7 | France | 206 | 12,803 | -98.4% | 4.8% |
| 8 | Denmark | 168 | 5,779 | -97.1% | 3.9% |
| 9 | Lithuania | 119 | 261 | -54.4% | 2.8% |
| 10 | Sweden | 101 | 3,934 | -97.4% | 2.4% |
Hotel Occupancy by Region
Regional hotel occupancy rates for December 2020:
| Region | Occupancy 2020 | Occupancy 2019 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reykjanes | 8.8% | 39.7% | -30.9 pp |
| Capital Region | 7.0% | 69.3% | -62.3 pp |
| East | 6.9% | 19.9% | -13.0 pp |
| Total | 6.3% | 51.4% | -45.1 pp |
| North | 5.6% | 19.2% | -13.6 pp |
| South | 5.3% | 45.4% | -40.1 pp |
| West & Westfjords | 2.7% | 19.7% | -17.0 pp |
Foreign Card Spending
Total foreign card turnover in December 2020 was 1,694.3 million ISK (1.69 billion ISK), compared to 12,978.09 million ISK in December 2019.
This represents a -86.9% year-over-year change.
Domestic Tourism
Icelandic residents recorded 18,501 overnight stays in hotels in December 2020, down 42.6% from 32,209 in 2019.
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