Icelandic tourism in numbers

1 What this is, and how to explore more

A short guide to the charts below. We highlight the long-run arrival trend, what visitors do once here (length of stay and card spend), how hotel use differs across Reykjavík vs the South, and how the two largest markets (Europe and North America) behave across seasons and regions. For filters, breakdowns and more context, open the Tourism Dashboard.

Methods in brief. Long‑run comparisons exclude COVID months. ISK values are inflation adjusted.

2 Big picture

2.1 Arrivals — the starting point

Almost all tourism in Iceland begins at Keflavík International Airport, so we’ll start there too. The chart below shows monthly international arrivals (Icelanders excluded) since 2012. You can see the growth years: every season topping the last — until things flatten in 2018 and dip a little before COVID (the grey band). Since then we’ve hovered around that pre-COVID level. That changes in the summer of 2025, which finally pushes past the 2018 peak. This growth is a summer story. Winter is not lifting in the same way.

• Light gray shows monthly values.
• Dark green is the 12‑month average.
• The shaded area marks the COVID period.

2.2 Once they’re here

After landing, two simple questions tell a lot of the story: how long do people stay and how much do they spend? Below we track both, nights per tourist (NPT) across all registered accommodations and foreign card spend per tourist.

Through the big growth years, both lines trend the other way. With more tourists we are getting fewer nights and less spend per person. Today we are closer to a steady new normal, but still below the per‑visitor intensity of the mid‑2010s.

• Monthly series in light lines.
• The bold line is the 12‑month average.
• COVID months are excluded in long‑run comparisons.
• Per-visitor intensity has eased: average stay and spend per person are lower than before the 2012–2018 boom.

So arrivals have bounced back from COVID, but visitors tend to stay shorter and spend less than they did before the growth years. Where do they go once they’re here? In the next section we zoom in on regions using hotel data, and compare Reykjavík with the South, where many of the recent shifts show up most clearly.

3 Where do visitors spend their hotel nights?

Here we zoom into hotel data. Coverage is narrower than “all accommodations,” but the detail is richer. Here we can group the data by Icelandic region and hotel guest origin. Since we already know how many people are arriving, the next question is: where are they staying?

3.1 Reykjavík vs South — who leads on nights per tourist?

The chart below plots hotel nights per tourist (NPT) by region, with Höfuðborgarsvæðið (Reykjavík area) and Suðurland (the South) highlighted. Reykjavík has long been the leader, but it eased back during the boom years. The South has steadily climbed, separating from the rest of the country and closing some of the gap to Reykjavík. Together these two regions account for more than 3 out of every 4 hotel nights in Iceland.

• Dark lines are Reykjavík and South.
• Faint lines are other regions for context.
• The shaded band marks COVID.

3.2 How busy are the hotels?

Occupancy is the utilization of hotel rooms. Reykjavík still has higher occupancy on average, but its trend has drifted down from a 2017 peak. The South, meanwhile, is consistently climbing.

• Monthly series in light lines.
• The bold line is the 12‑month average.
• COVID months are excluded in long‑run comparisons.

3.3 Capacity vs use — are new rooms being filled?

What can explain the decreasing occupancy in the Capital‑Region? Both regions add rooms, but the effect differs: in Reykjavík, available rooms keep rising while used rooms flatten starting in 2017— exactly when occupancy begins to slip. In other words, demand for hotel rooms in Reykjavík hasn’t kept up with the growth in supply. The pie isn’t getting bigger—just sliced thinner. In the South, used rooms grow alongside capacity so occupancy holds up better.

• 12‑month series (ex‑COVID) for smoother comparison.
• Colors distinguish available rooms and used rooms.

3.4 Price & revenue by season

As hotel room supply outpaces demand in Reykjavík, the Average Daily Rate (ADR) has slipped below that of the South. The South has become the most expensive region in Iceland for hotel rooms. Prices are not the whole story. RevPAR combines ADR and occupancy to show the revenue generated by each available room. Despite lower prices in all seasons, each room in Reykjavík generates as much or more revenue in any season except summer. This is especially clear in winter where Reykjavík has much higher occupancy than the South.

• Left to right: occupancy, ADR, and RevPAR by season.

3.5 Do higher prices shorten stays?

To make patterns comparable, we index both series to January = 100 and look across the calendar months. In Reykjavík the two lines move in opposite directions: when ADR rises into the peak, nights-per-tourist dips. The South shows an interesting shoulder-season effect: stays are longest in spring (and to a lesser degree in fall) before the price peak—then shorten a bit in high summer, but still sit well above winter troughs.

• Indexed ADR vs indexed NPT (Jan=100) — separate panels for Reykjavík and South.

Takeaways: Reykjavík still dominates winter and overall scale, but has added capacity faster than demand. That softens occupancy and prices. The South has momentum with relatively higher prices, improving occupancy, and peak summer RevPAR. Shoulder seasons seem to be the South’s sweet spot for longer stays.

Next we switch lenses from places to people—looking at markets (Europe vs North America): when they come, how long they stay, and where those nights land.

5 Definitions & sources

Arrivals

All foreign arrivals at Keflavík Airport. Source (Statistics Iceland).

Tourists

Arrivals excluding Icelandic citizens.

Guests and nights (all accommodations)

Anyone who spent at least one night in any registered accommodation. Source (Statistics Iceland).

Nights per tourist (all accommodations)

Nights spent at any registered accommodation divided by the number of tourists (proxy for length of stay).

Foreign credit-card spend

All foreign credit-card spend in Iceland. Source (Central Bank of Iceland).

Credit-card spend per tourist

Foreign credit-card spend divided by number of tourists.

Hotel nights

Nights spent at hotels. One guest can have multiple nights. Source (Statistics Iceland).

Hotel NPT

Hotel nights divided by number of tourists.

ADR

Average daily rate of hotel rooms. Source (Icelandic Tourist Board).

RevPAR

Revenue per available room (ADR × occupancy).