Summary
January 2026 was part of Iceland's winter season, prime time for northern lights and ice cave tours. Foreign guests recorded 248,842 overnight stays in hotels, compared to 256,429 in January 2025—a -3.0% change year-over-year.
National hotel occupancy stood at 43.0%, down 3.9 percentage points from 46.9% in 2025. Foreign card spending totaled 18.6 billion ISK (-2.7% YoY).
January 2026 in context
Foreign hotel nights for the year to date, January through January, reached 248,842, down 3.0% on the same period of 2025. Against the average for January over the five preceding years (excluding the pandemic years 2020 and 2021), this month came in ahead by 6.7%. Compared with January 2019, the last full year before the pandemic, foreign nights were up 0.3%.
United Kingdom was the largest source market with 24.7% of foreign hotel nights, and the top three markets together accounted for 54.7%. Hotel occupancy of 43.0% 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 January 2026, ranked by overnight stays:
| Rank | Market | Nights 2026 | Nights 2025 | Change | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United Kingdom | 61,527 | 62,388 | -1.4% | 24.7% |
| 2 | United States of America | 49,339 | 62,002 | -20.4% | 19.8% |
| 3 | China | 25,257 | 27,626 | -8.6% | 10.1% |
| 4 | Germany | 16,084 | 16,097 | -0.1% | 6.5% |
| 5 | France | 11,948 | 13,757 | -13.1% | 4.8% |
| 6 | Italy | 9,283 | 6,669 | +39.2% | 3.7% |
| 7 | Other Asian countries | 9,157 | 8,275 | +10.7% | 3.7% |
| 8 | Netherlands | 6,116 | 4,981 | +22.8% | 2.5% |
| 9 | Spain | 5,670 | 5,542 | +2.3% | 2.3% |
| 10 | Japan | 4,908 | 4,231 | +16.0% | 2.0% |
Hotel Occupancy by Region
Regional hotel occupancy rates for January 2026:
| Region | Occupancy 2026 | Occupancy 2025 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capital Region | 56.2% | 62.2% | -6.0 pp |
| Reykjanes | 49.9% | 46.4% | +3.5 pp |
| Total | 43.0% | 46.9% | -3.9 pp |
| South | 36.5% | 41.4% | -4.9 pp |
| North | 16.6% | 13.4% | +3.2 pp |
| West & Westfjords | 14.4% | 17.0% | -2.6 pp |
| East | 9.6% | 17.2% | -7.6 pp |
Foreign Card Spending
Total foreign card turnover in January 2026 was 18,589.79 million ISK (18.59 billion ISK), compared to 19,100.11 million ISK in January 2025.
This represents a -2.7% year-over-year change.
Domestic Tourism
Icelandic residents recorded 28,880 overnight stays in hotels in January 2026, down 23.4% from 37,715 in 2025.
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