Icelandic hotels recover after slow start as summer demand holds

Icelandic hotels have recovered from a slow start to the year, with bookings for September and October expected to match last year’s levels, mbl.is reports. Björgvin Jóhannesson, chairman of the Association of Companies in Hotel and Accommodation Services, said some hotels were even seeing stronger bookings than last autumn.

“That is my experience based on the situation at the two hotels I operate,” said Björgvin, who manages Hotel Selfoss and Hotel Southcoast in Selfoss.

He said he had heard similar reports from other hotel operators, particularly in the capital area. After a difficult first half of the year, the summer had performed well and hotels had been able to recover some of the lost ground.

“That situation extends into the autumn, but September and October are on par with last year, and at some hotels the situation is even better,” Björgvin said.

Uncertainty over winter bookings

He said there was greater uncertainty about the months ahead, partly because travellers were booking with less notice than before.

“The winter is a slight concern in some places. We would have liked the booking position for the winter to be better, but we are hopeful that bookings will pick up following increased marketing of Iceland by Business Iceland,” Björgvin said.

Business Iceland received additional funding earlier this summer to promote Iceland as a travel destination, according to the report.

Björgvin also said the hotel industry was placing considerable hopes on direct flights between Iceland and China, which are due to begin in October, providing a significant boost to the market.

New figures from Statistics Iceland show that the number of hotel nights in the first seven months of the year was similar to the figure for the same period last year. Hotel nights in July were also comparable with July last year, at just over 648,000.

However, hotel nights from January to July were more than 21 percent higher than during the same months in 2018, which was a record year for tourism before Covid-19.

The increase coincides with growth in the number of hotel rooms. Statistics Iceland recorded 12,696 hotel rooms in July, compared with 10,460 in the same month of 2018, an increase of more than 21 percent.

The increase is equivalent to more than 10 times the number of rooms at Hotel Saga, which has ceased operations and had 209 rooms toward the end of its operation.