Did Iceland experience a tourism boom? Absolutely! In April 2023, there were 563,000 overnight stays on the island, significantly higher than any previous year.
The increase from 2022 is about 23%, and from the record year of 2017, it's 17%. Moreover, Iceland’s tourism authorities reported that about 78% of the overnight stays were from foreign visitors, which amounts to 441,000, a 33% increase compared to the previous year's 332,300.
On the other hand, domestic overnight stays decreased by approximately 4% during this period.
In April, there were 430,000 overnight stays in Icelandic hotels and guesthouses and 133,000 overnight stays in other forms of collective accommodation like apartments, holiday homes, and camping sites.
Additionally, there may have been around 100,000 foreign overnight stays in unregistered establishments. Excluding hotels, there were 366,700 overnight stays in April 2023, indicating a significant increase of 25% from the previous year. However, it's worth noting that while foreign overnight stays increased by 36%, domestic stays decreased by 5%.