Overnight stays in registered accommodation in 2022 were 8.55 million, compared with 5.01 million in 2021. There was an increase in the number of overnight stays between years in all regions, ranging between 22% in the North region, to more than a twofold increase in the Capital region.
Overnight stays in hotels and guesthouses were 5.85 million in 2022, overnight stays in other indoor accommodation were 1.46 million and about 1.24 million at camping sites.
Hence, there was a 70.5% increase in overnight stays from 2021. Thereof, there was an 80.6% increase in hotels and guesthouses, 74.6% increase in other indoor accommodation and 32.1% increase at camping sites.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, a large part of overnight stays in 2020 and 2021 was due to domestic tourists. Consequently, the year-on-year increase in overnight stays in 2022 was mainly due to an increase in non-domestic tourism. There were 1.97 million domestic overnight stays, which is a 1.5% increase from 2021, whereas foreign overnight stays increased to about 6.58 million, or by 114%.
There was great increase in foreign overnight stays for all regions and types of accommodation. The increase was smallest in the North region (71%) and greatest in the Capital region (144%). There was an increase in domestic overnight stays in the Capital region, Southwest and South regions, whereas domestic overnight stays decreased in other regions. Proportionally, the greatest decrease was observed in the North region, or from 460,00 to 353,000 (23%), largely due to a 33% decrease in domestic overnight stays at Northern camping sites.
Statistics Iceland publishes an initial estimate of overnight stays in all types of accommodation on a monthly basis. These figures have now been updated. According to initial estimates, the total number of overnight stays in all types of accommodation was 8,847,000, whereas the final number is now 8,547,000, which lowers the initial estimate by 3.3%. Domestic overnight stays were 5.9% more than initial estimates indicated, whereas foreign overnight stays were 5.9% fewer.