Overnight stays at hotels in Iceland in September were nearly 512,600 or approximately 1.3% fewer than in 2023 when they were 519,300. Overnight stays decreased in all regions except in the Southern region (+3.7%) and the Capital region where they were unchanged year over year. The greatest decrease was in the East (-20.5%) and West and Westfjords region (-10.4%). Overnight stays also fell significantly in the Southern peninsula (-4.6%) and in the North region (-3.4%).
The decline in overnight hotel stays was primarily due to a decrease in foreign overnight stays which fell by 3.4% and totalled 419,400 (82% of total overnight hotel stays). On the other hand, domestic stays were approximately 93,200, or 18% of the total, and increased considerably from the previous year by 9.7%.
Supply of hotel bedrooms increased by 3.0% in September compared with the same time in 2023. The greatest increase was in the Southern region where the supply grew by nearly 9.1%. In the West and Westfjords region there was also considerable growth of 3.9%. However, overall occupancy rates declined in all regions by a total of 3.0 percentage points where rates declined by 14.3 percentage points in the East and 7.5 percentage points in the West and Westfjords region. Occupancy rates in the Capital region were nearly unchanged but declined nonetheless slightly by 0.3 percentage points.
All accommodations
When all accommodations are considered the total number of registered overnight stays in September were roughly 1,017,000, of which 653,000 were in hotels and guesthouses and 364,000 were in other types of accommodation (camping sites, cottages, etc.). Despite the decline in hotel overnight stays this was still an increase of 4.1% compared with September 2023 when the total number of overnight stays was roughly 977,000. Growth in other types of accommodation therefore outweighed the decline in hotel overnight stays in September.
In total, the number of foreign overnight stays (in all accommodations) increased by 2.8% in September compared with the same time last year, totalling 837,000 (82% of all overnight stays). Domestic stays also increased by 10.3% year-over-year and totalled roughly 180,000 (18% of all overnight stays).
Estimated unlisted overnight stays
In September, there were 120,000 estimated overnight stays in rented private accommodations through Airbnb and similar websites, 11,000 with friends and relatives and 20,000 in camper vans outside of registered campsites.
Due to revisions in processing of data from the border study conducted at Keflavik Airport it was not possible to publish data for August 2024 at the time of last release in September. According to new estimates by Statistics Iceland, there were 180,000 overnight stays through Airbnb and similar websites in August 2024, 10,000 with friends and relatives and 10,000 in camper vans outside of registered campsites.
About the data
All numbers for 2024 are preliminary except data on overnight stays at hotels which are preliminary for September 2024.