Summary
December 2022 was part of Iceland's shoulder season. Foreign guests recorded 270,158 overnight stays in hotels, compared to 172,267 in December 2021—a +56.8% change year-over-year.
National hotel occupancy stood at 50.0%, up 15.5 percentage points from 34.5% in 2021. Foreign card spending totaled 15.8 billion ISK (+70.8% YoY).
December 2022 in context
Foreign hotel nights for the year to date, January through December, reached 4,014,004, up 118.9% on the same period of 2021. Within 2022, December ranked 9th of the twelve months by foreign nights. Against the average for December over the five preceding years (excluding the pandemic years 2020 and 2021), this month came in ahead by 8.5%. Compared with December 2019, the last full year before the pandemic, foreign nights were down 1.8%.
United Kingdom was the largest source market with 29.8% of foreign hotel nights, and the top three markets together accounted for 63.7%. Hotel occupancy of 50.0% 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 2022, ranked by overnight stays:
| Rank | Market | Nights 2022 | Nights 2021 | Change | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United Kingdom | 80,426 | 46,453 | +73.1% | 29.8% |
| 2 | United States of America | 74,827 | 47,966 | +56.0% | 27.7% |
| 3 | China | 16,726 | 7,550 | +121.5% | 6.2% |
| 4 | Germany | 15,595 | 12,582 | +23.9% | 5.8% |
| 5 | France | 11,851 | 12,642 | -6.3% | 4.4% |
| 6 | Other Asian countries | 8,489 | 2,718 | +212.3% | 3.1% |
| 7 | Spain | 7,025 | 4,866 | +44.4% | 2.6% |
| 8 | Netherlands | 5,877 | 6,331 | -7.2% | 2.2% |
| 9 | Italy | 5,545 | 3,903 | +42.1% | 2.1% |
| 10 | Ireland | 3,830 | 2,118 | +80.8% | 1.4% |
Hotel Occupancy by Region
Regional hotel occupancy rates for December 2022:
| Region | Occupancy 2022 | Occupancy 2021 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capital Region | 70.8% | 46.3% | +24.5 pp |
| Total | 50.0% | 34.5% | +15.5 pp |
| Reykjanes | 47.9% | 40.0% | +7.9 pp |
| South | 39.6% | 27.6% | +12.0 pp |
| West & Westfjords | 15.5% | 11.1% | +4.4 pp |
| North | 12.3% | 14.4% | -2.1 pp |
| East | 11.7% | 7.5% | +4.2 pp |
Foreign Card Spending
Total foreign card turnover in December 2022 was 15,764.39 million ISK (15.76 billion ISK), compared to 9,228.92 million ISK in December 2021.
This represents a +70.8% year-over-year change.
Domestic Tourism
Icelandic residents recorded 47,298 overnight stays in hotels in December 2022, up 28.0% from 36,966 in 2021.
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