In April 2017, overnight stays in hotels were 292,100, which is an increase of 25% compared with April 2016. Nights spent by foreign tourists accounted for 84% of the total number of overnight stays in April, and increased by 26% compared with April 2016. At the same time, the overnight stays of Icelanders increased by 21%.
In the capital region, the number of overnight stays was 181,900, which is a 16% increase compared with April 2016. Around 62% of all overnight stays were in the capital region, followed by overnight stays in the South region, which were 54,700. Overseas residents with the most overnight stays in Iceland in April were from the USA (61,900), UK (54,500), and Germany (22,100), while overnight stays of Icelanders in April were 45,500.
Over the last twelve months, from May 2016 to April 2017, overnight stays in hotels were 4,122,000, which is an increase of approximately 32% compared with the previous year.
66.1% occupancy rate for bedrooms in April 2017
Occupancy rate for bedrooms in hotels was 66.1% in April 2017, which is an increase of 6.9 points from April 2016, when it was 59.2%. The occupancy rate for bedrooms was highest in the capital region, or 79.7%.
| Overnight stays in hotels | ||||||
| April | May – April | |||||
| 2016 | 2017 | % | 2015-2016 | 2016-2017 | % | |
| Total | 233,195 | 292,091 | 25 | 3,129,863 | 4,121,774 | 32 |
| Capital region | 156,845 | 181,933 | 16 | 2,040,413 | 2,573,593 | 26 |
| Southwest | 10,400 | 17,873 | 72 | 156,838 | 239,836 | 53 |
| West and Westfjords | 7,993 | 11,231 | 41 | 130,039 | 182,903 | 41 |
| Northwest and Northeast | 20,071 | 21,078 | 5 | 208,291 | 288,025 | 38 |
| East | 4,755 | 5,240 | 10 | 83,188 | 109,349 | 31 |
| South | 33,131 | 54,736 | 65 | 511,094 | 728,068 | 42 |
| Icelanders | 37,606 | 45,513 | 21 | 349,228 | 427,995 | 23 |
| Foreign visitors | 195,589 | 246,578 | 26 | 2,780,635 | 3,693,779 | 33 |
The above data only show overnight stays in hotels that are operating for the whole year. Guesthouses and summer hotels are not included in this category. Numbers for 2017 are preliminary.
Alongside the publication of the number of overnight stays in hotels for April 2017, a detailed table for municipalities with the numbers of overnight stays for all types of accommodation for 2008-2016 has now been published and is available through the Statistics Iceland website. Further updates of tables for previous years to adjust for the transfer of Höfn municipality from the East region to the South are still being worked on.