Summary
December 2021 was part of Iceland's shoulder season. Foreign guests recorded 172,267 overnight stays in hotels, compared to 4,260 in December 2020—a +3943.8% change year-over-year.
National hotel occupancy stood at 34.5%, up 28.2 percentage points from 6.3% in 2020. Foreign card spending totaled 9.2 billion ISK (+444.7% YoY).
December 2021 in context
Foreign hotel nights for the year to date, January through December, reached 1,833,681, up 84.9% on the same period of 2020. Within 2021, December ranked 6th of the twelve months by foreign nights. Against the average for December over the five preceding years, this month came in behind by 30.8%. Compared with December 2019, the last full year before the pandemic, foreign nights were down 37.4%.
United States of America was the largest source market with 27.8% of foreign hotel nights, and the top three markets together accounted for 62.1%. Hotel occupancy of 34.5% 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 2021, ranked by overnight stays:
| Rank | Market | Nights 2021 | Nights 2020 | Change | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United States of America | 47,966 | 885 | +5319.9% | 27.8% |
| 2 | United Kingdom | 46,453 | 581 | +7895.4% | 27.0% |
| 3 | France | 12,642 | 206 | +6036.9% | 7.3% |
| 4 | Germany | 12,582 | 419 | +2902.9% | 7.3% |
| 5 | China | 7,550 | 1 | +754900.0% | 4.4% |
| 6 | Netherlands | 6,331 | 81 | +7716.0% | 3.7% |
| 7 | Spain | 4,866 | 244 | +1894.3% | 2.8% |
| 8 | Italy | 3,903 | 286 | +1264.7% | 2.3% |
| 9 | Denmark | 3,039 | 168 | +1708.9% | 1.8% |
| 10 | Other Asian countries | 2,718 | 54 | +4933.3% | 1.6% |
Hotel Occupancy by Region
Regional hotel occupancy rates for December 2021:
| Region | Occupancy 2021 | Occupancy 2020 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capital Region | 46.3% | 7.0% | +39.3 pp |
| Reykjanes | 40.0% | 8.8% | +31.2 pp |
| Total | 34.5% | 6.3% | +28.2 pp |
| South | 27.6% | 5.3% | +22.3 pp |
| North | 14.4% | 5.6% | +8.8 pp |
| West & Westfjords | 11.1% | 2.7% | +8.4 pp |
| East | 7.5% | 6.9% | +0.6 pp |
Foreign Card Spending
Total foreign card turnover in December 2021 was 9,228.92 million ISK (9.23 billion ISK), compared to 1,694.3 million ISK in December 2020.
This represents a +444.7% year-over-year change.
Domestic Tourism
Icelandic residents recorded 36,966 overnight stays in hotels in December 2021, up 99.8% from 18,501 in 2020.
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