Summary
March 2025 was part of Iceland's winter season, prime time for northern lights and ice cave tours. Foreign guests recorded 367,303 overnight stays in hotels, compared to 371,609 in March 2024—a -1.2% change year-over-year.
National hotel occupancy stood at 62.4%, down 1.1 percentage points from 63.5% in 2024. Foreign card spending totaled 25.0 billion ISK (-1.7% YoY).
March 2025 in context
Foreign hotel nights for the year to date, January through March, reached 953,687, down 0.9% on the same period of 2024. Within 2025, March ranked 7th of the twelve months by foreign nights. Against the average for March over the five preceding years (excluding the pandemic years 2020 and 2021), this month came in ahead by 8.2%. Compared with March 2019, the last full year before the pandemic, foreign nights were up 7.4%.
United States of America was the largest source market with 30.4% of foreign hotel nights, and the top three markets together accounted for 54.6%. Hotel occupancy of 62.4% means that share of available rooms was sold across the month; this is a healthy shoulder-season level with capacity still available outside the capital. 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 March 2025, ranked by overnight stays:
| Rank | Market | Nights 2025 | Nights 2024 | Change | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United States of America | 111,714 | 105,338 | +6.1% | 30.4% |
| 2 | United Kingdom | 61,623 | 82,916 | -25.7% | 16.8% |
| 3 | Germany | 27,317 | 29,511 | -7.4% | 7.4% |
| 4 | China | 24,778 | 20,254 | +22.3% | 6.7% |
| 5 | Other Asian countries | 18,463 | 14,159 | +30.4% | 5.0% |
| 6 | France | 17,391 | 17,005 | +2.3% | 4.7% |
| 7 | Italy | 12,234 | 11,664 | +4.9% | 3.3% |
| 8 | Netherlands | 10,402 | 10,290 | +1.1% | 2.8% |
| 9 | Spain | 9,648 | 11,419 | -15.5% | 2.6% |
| 10 | Other South and Central American countries | 5,928 | 5,749 | +3.1% | 1.6% |
Hotel Occupancy by Region
Regional hotel occupancy rates for March 2025:
| Region | Occupancy 2025 | Occupancy 2024 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capital Region | 73.2% | 76.1% | -2.9 pp |
| South | 67.5% | 71.7% | -4.2 pp |
| Total | 62.4% | 63.5% | -1.1 pp |
| Reykjanes | 60.8% | 51.2% | +9.6 pp |
| North | 37.1% | 34.1% | +3.0 pp |
| West & Westfjords | 36.7% | 36.9% | -0.2 pp |
| East | 31.2% | 26.5% | +4.7 pp |
Foreign Card Spending
Total foreign card turnover in March 2025 was 24,975.31 million ISK (24.98 billion ISK), compared to 25,405.89 million ISK in March 2024.
This represents a -1.7% year-over-year change.
Domestic Tourism
Icelandic residents recorded 52,731 overnight stays in hotels in March 2025, down 22.5% from 68,031 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