Summary
January 2023 was part of Iceland's winter season, prime time for northern lights and ice cave tours. Foreign guests recorded 268,917 overnight stays in hotels, compared to 137,520 in January 2022—a +95.5% change year-over-year.
National hotel occupancy stood at 51.5%, up 23.4 percentage points from 28.1% in 2022. Foreign card spending totaled 16.8 billion ISK (+122.4% YoY).
January 2023 in context
Foreign hotel nights for the year to date, January through January, reached 268,917, up 95.5% on the same period of 2022. Within 2023, January ranked 11th of the twelve months by foreign nights. Against the average for January over the five preceding years (excluding the pandemic years 2020 and 2021), this month came in ahead by 23.9%. Compared with January 2019, the last full year before the pandemic, foreign nights were up 8.3%.
United Kingdom was the largest source market with 33.3% of foreign hotel nights, and the top three markets together accounted for 63.9%. Hotel occupancy of 51.5% 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 January 2023, ranked by overnight stays:
| Rank | Market | Nights 2023 | Nights 2022 | Change | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United Kingdom | 89,642 | 41,873 | +114.1% | 33.3% |
| 2 | United States of America | 63,267 | 32,244 | +96.2% | 23.5% |
| 3 | Germany | 19,046 | 11,849 | +60.7% | 7.1% |
| 4 | France | 11,265 | 8,303 | +35.7% | 4.2% |
| 5 | China | 10,202 | 2,711 | +276.3% | 3.8% |
| 6 | Netherlands | 7,248 | 6,652 | +9.0% | 2.7% |
| 7 | Italy | 6,894 | 4,227 | +63.1% | 2.6% |
| 8 | Other Asian countries | 6,144 | 1,779 | +245.4% | 2.3% |
| 9 | Spain | 5,343 | 4,248 | +25.8% | 2.0% |
| 10 | Ireland | 4,852 | 1,787 | +171.5% | 1.8% |
Hotel Occupancy by Region
Regional hotel occupancy rates for January 2023:
| Region | Occupancy 2023 | Occupancy 2022 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capital Region | 71.0% | 36.5% | +34.5 pp |
| Total | 51.5% | 28.1% | +23.4 pp |
| South | 41.2% | 21.7% | +19.5 pp |
| Reykjanes | 39.9% | 31.9% | +8.0 pp |
| North | 16.9% | 12.6% | +4.3 pp |
| West & Westfjords | 16.8% | 8.7% | +8.1 pp |
| East | 15.8% | 10.9% | +4.9 pp |
Foreign Card Spending
Total foreign card turnover in January 2023 was 16,776.26 million ISK (16.78 billion ISK), compared to 7,543.43 million ISK in January 2022.
This represents a +122.4% year-over-year change.
Domestic Tourism
Icelandic residents recorded 43,822 overnight stays in hotels in January 2023, up 50.8% from 29,054 in 2022.
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