Hotel overnight stays fell in Iceland despite August solar eclipse

Hotel overnight stays in Iceland fell by 2.5% in August, even as visitors travelled to see the solar eclipse, mbl.is reported. Preliminary figures from Statistics Iceland show 653,000 overnight stays nationwide, down from 670,000 a year earlier. The eclipse took place on August 12.

Overnight stays by foreign visitors, who accounted for 93% of the total, declined by 1.8% to 607,000. Stays by Icelanders fell 10% to nearly 46,000. Across the first eight months of the year, overnight stays were down 0.3% compared with the same period in 2025.

The capital region recorded the largest drop, with stays down 5.3%, or nearly 16,000 nights. The South saw a decline of 3.2%, or almost 6,000 nights, while the East recorded a 3.6% fall. By contrast, stays rose 6.9% on the Reykjanes Peninsula, 4.3% in West Iceland and the Westfjords, and 0.9% in North Iceland.

American visitors accounted for the largest number of foreign hotel stays, at more than 226,000, an increase of 10.2% year on year. Stays by Chinese visitors rose 6.5% to 40,000. German stays fell 9.7% to 55,000, while Italian stays were down 11.3% to 39,000.

The number of hotel rooms available nationwide rose 1.7% from August 2025, with increases in nearly all regions. Supply grew 6.1% in North Iceland and 3.7% on the Reykjanes Peninsula. There were 186 hotels operating in August, with 12,817 rooms, compared with 182 hotels a year earlier. The capital region had 59 hotels and 5,670 rooms, while South Iceland had 55 hotels and 3,223 rooms.

Hotel room occupancy across the country fell by 1.1 percentage points. It dropped by 4.7 points in North Iceland and 3.1 points in the capital region, but rose by five points on the Reykjanes Peninsula and in West Iceland and the Westfjords. Occupancy increased by 0.4 points in South Iceland. The highest occupancy was in South Iceland, at 93.5%, followed by the Reykjanes Peninsula at 91.7%.

Across all registered types of accommodation, including hotels, guesthouses, campsites and holiday homes, the estimated number of overnight stays in August exceeded 1,549,000, an increase of 3.3%.