In August 2023, there were 1,522,000 registered overnight stays in Iceland, which is a 13% increase from August 2022 (1,347,000). Overnight stays in hotels were 599,200, which is very similar to August 2022.
Foreign overnight stays were 79% of overnight stays, or 1,196,000, which is a 13% increase from the previous year (1,062,300). Domestic overnight stays were 326,000, which is a 14% increase from the previous year (284,900). Overnight stays in hotels and guesthouses were 808,000 while 714,000 were in other types of accommodation (apartments, cottages, campsites etc.). Furthermore, it is estimated that foreign overnight stays in unregistered home accommodation in August were around 210,000.
There were 599,200 overnight stays in hotels in August, which is a 0.2% increase from the previous year (597,800). There was a 7% increase in overnight stays in hotels in both the North and South regions compared with August 2022, whereas there was decrease in all other regions. The greatest decrease was in the Southwest region, or 7.7%. In the Capital region, the number of overnight stays was 270,500, which was a 2.3% decrease from 2022.
Foreign overnight stays at hotels were 504,000, or 84% of overnight stays at hotels, while domestic overnight stays were 95,200 (16%). Foreign overnight stays increased by 2.4% whereas domestic overnights decreased by 9.7%.
Compared with August of the previous year, there was a 0.9% increase in the supply of hotel bedrooms. Occupancy rate for hotel rooms decreased by 1.2 percentage points from August 2022. Occupancy rate decreased by 4.3 percentage points in the Capital region, while it increased by 10.4 percentage points in the Southwest region.
Foreign overnight stays in home accommodation through Airbnb in August are estimated to have been around 210,000. Overnight stays in camper vans other than in camping areas were around 11,000, while there were 41,000 staying with friends, relatives or through home exchange.
A border study has been carried out at Keflavík Airport by the Icelandic Tourist Board and Statistics Iceland since August 2017 and Statistics Iceland publishes the estimated number of unregistered foreign overnight based on its results. Therein were estimates for overnight stays in homestays brokered through Airbnb, as well as overnight stays in campers and caravans outside paid camping areas and with friends and relatives. Due to the large decrease in the number of departures from Keflavík Airport following the Covid-19 pandemic, the border study was suspended from April 2020 to May 2021, and these estimations were discontinued during that period.
All numbers for 2023 are preliminary, except for hotel data which is preliminary for August 2023. Due to abrupt changes in supply and occupancy rates, estimation for other types of accommodation than hotels is currently subject to a higher degree of uncertainty than usual and should therefore be taken with a special precaution until final numbers are available.