Summary
December 2025 was part of Iceland's shoulder season. Foreign guests recorded 264,997 overnight stays in hotels, compared to 293,621 in December 2024—a -9.7% change year-over-year.
National hotel occupancy stood at 45.3%, down 6.6 percentage points from 51.9% in 2024. Foreign card spending totaled 18.3 billion ISK (-8.6% YoY).
December 2025 in context
Foreign hotel nights for the year to date, January through December, reached 4,865,594, up 8.9% on the same period of 2024. Within 2025, December ranked 11th 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 behind by 3.2%. Compared with December 2019, the last full year before the pandemic, foreign nights were down 3.6%.
United States of America was the largest source market with 23.1% of foreign hotel nights, and the top three markets together accounted for 57.5%. Hotel occupancy of 45.3% 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 2025, ranked by overnight stays:
| Rank | Market | Nights 2025 | Nights 2024 | Change | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United States of America | 61,233 | 84,346 | -27.4% | 23.1% |
| 2 | United Kingdom | 57,672 | 65,515 | -12.0% | 21.8% |
| 3 | China | 33,581 | 27,453 | +22.3% | 12.7% |
| 4 | Other Asian countries | 14,125 | 14,965 | -5.6% | 5.3% |
| 5 | Germany | 13,785 | 13,914 | -0.9% | 5.2% |
| 6 | France | 10,465 | 15,173 | -31.0% | 3.9% |
| 7 | Italy | 8,951 | 8,038 | +11.4% | 3.4% |
| 8 | Japan | 6,465 | 4,563 | +41.7% | 2.4% |
| 9 | Netherlands | 6,379 | 6,573 | -3.0% | 2.4% |
| 10 | Spain | 5,541 | 7,333 | -24.4% | 2.1% |
Hotel Occupancy by Region
Regional hotel occupancy rates for December 2025:
| Region | Occupancy 2025 | Occupancy 2024 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capital Region | 57.7% | 70.8% | -13.1 pp |
| Reykjanes | 53.8% | 44.9% | +8.9 pp |
| Total | 45.3% | 51.9% | -6.6 pp |
| South | 41.1% | 47.2% | -6.1 pp |
| North | 17.6% | 15.4% | +2.2 pp |
| West & Westfjords | 14.5% | 17.6% | -3.1 pp |
| East | 11.3% | 15.5% | -4.2 pp |
Foreign Card Spending
Total foreign card turnover in December 2025 was 18,328.59 million ISK (18.33 billion ISK), compared to 20,051.74 million ISK in December 2024.
This represents a -8.6% year-over-year change.
Domestic Tourism
Icelandic residents recorded 32,552 overnight stays in hotels in December 2025, down 27.7% from 45,054 in 2024.
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