Overnight stays in hotels in February 2018 were 348,400, which is a 4% increase from February last year. Around 66% of all overnight stays were in the Capital region, or 231,500. The number of overnight stays increased by 34% in the North region.
Nights spent by foreign tourists accounted for 91% of the total number of overnight stays in February. Overnight stays of foreign tourists increased by 7% from February 2017, while overnight stays of Icelanders decreased by 16%. UK residents had the greatest number of overnight stays (106,700), then residents of USA (77,000) and China (26,900). Overnight stays of Icelanders in February were 31,700.
74% occupancy rate for bedrooms in February
Occupancy rate for bedrooms in hotels was 73.7% in February 2018, which is a decrease of 4.1 percentage points from February 2017, when it was 77.8%. Over the same period, the number of hotel bedrooms has increased by 8.8%. The occupancy rate for bedrooms in February was highest in the Capital area, or 90.%.
Estimated overnight stays for all types of accommodation in February
Statistics Iceland estimates that the total number of overnight stays for all types of accommodation in February 2018 was 576,100. Thereof, non-resident overnight stays are estimated to have been 515,100, and resident overnight stays 61,000.
Overnight stays in 2017 for other types of accommodation than hotels have now been reviewed, and can be viewed in the corresponding web tables. Overnight stays in 2017 were approximately 8,378,000, thereof 7,259,000 by foreign visitors and 1,119,000 by Icelanders. Along with hotels and guesthouses, this includes all accommodation registered with Statistics Iceland, such as youth hostels, holiday centres, sleeping bag facilities and apartment and private home accommodation, as well as camping sites and lodges. Although a number of larger establishments offering accommodation through AirBnB and similar websites are registered with Statistics Iceland, a large number offering such services is not. A monthly estimate of the number of overnight stays paid for through AirBnB is in preparation to be included in Statistics Iceland’s monthly news release on overnight stays. This should be in effect no later than at the end of April 2018.
| Overnight stays in hotels | ||||||
| February | March–February | |||||
| 2017 | 2018 | % | 2017 | 2018 | % | |
| Total | 334,441 | 348,405 | 4 | 4,013,609 | 4,281,803 | 7 |
| Capital region | 227,112 | 231,452 | 2 | 2,523,605 | 2,595,445 | 3 |
| Southwest | 24,372 | 26,635 | 9 | 228,244 | 301,807 | 32 |
| West and Westfjords | 9,533 | 10,219 | 7 | 177,735 | 192,043 | 8 |
| Northwest and Northeast | 11,425 | 15,361 | 34 | 285,757 | 305,502 | 7 |
| East | 2,521 | 2,629 | 4 | 108,521 | 108,431 | 0 |
| South | 59,478 | 62,109 | 4 | 689,747 | 778,575 | 13 |
| Icelanders | 37,592 | 31,732 | -16 | 411,752 | 420,373 | 2 |
| Foreign visitors | 296,849 | 316,673 | 7 | 3,601,857 | 3,861,430 | 7 |
Numbers for 2017 and 2018 are preliminary. Statistics Iceland is currently reviewing methods for evaluating data on overnight stays with respect to nationalities of tourists. This does not affect the number of overnight stays, but might affect the distribution with respect to Icelanders vs. non-residents.