Hampshire is the third largest shire county in England, with a population of 1,251,000 (2003, ONS). It is an area of contrasts with urban concentrations in the north east and south and significant rural areas in-between. Administratively there are two unitary authorities (Portsmouth and Southampton) and eleven district and borough councils.
Economy
Hampshire’s economy is a microcosm of the South East as a whole. There are definite concentrations of economic activity, but on the whole the county economy is strong. Business survival rates are higher than the regional and national averages, and the county has the lowest unemployment rate in the region and impressive growth rates amongst its businesses. Opportunities for further economic growth look promising.
Hampshire is home to a number of large employers, including IBM, Sun Microsystems, BAe Systems, Ministry of Defence and Eagle Star/Zurich
Employment in Hampshire is primarily service based, with high local concentrations in tourism, retail and leisure; marine; advanced manufacturing; business services and building and construction. Unemployment rates of just 1.0% compare favourably with both the South East region (1.5%) and UK (2.6%)
Tourism
Hampshire is a sub-region of contrasts. It contains the waterfront cities of Portsmouth and Southampton, well known as centres of maritime history as well as arts, culture and exciting retail opportunities. These two cities are also important ports for the cruise/ocean liner business. Further north is the historic city of Winchester with its magnificent cathedral and the business centres of Basingstoke, Farnborough and Aldershot.
However, fundamental to the sub-region’s visitor appeal is Hampshire’s countryside and the attractive towns and villages it contains. It also has a newly designated National Park in the New Forest and the South Downs is also set to achieve National Park status in the near future. Around 70 miles of Solent coastline makes Hampshire the UK’s premier location for yachting and watersports.
Hampshire has excellent road, rail and sea connections to other parts of the UK and Europe, an expanding regional airport as well as close links to both London Heathrow and London Gatwick airports.
Tourism is worth £750m to the Hampshire economy and 36,000 jobs are directly and indirectly supported by tourism in Hampshire, approximately 4% of the workforce. Day visitors spend a further £690m, mainly in visitor attractions and the retail sector.
Short breaks and day visits from outside and within the sub-region make up the core of leisure tourism business with a smaller proportion of long holidays taking place in the New Forest and the seaside resorts of Southsea and Hayling Island.
The business travel and conference/meeting market is extremely important to the hotel sector throughout the sub-region comprising around 17% of tourism expenditure. Overseas visitors represent approximately 12% of trips and contribute 33% of overall expenditure.
Room and bed occupancy levels in Hampshire are slightly above the regional and national averages and have remained pretty constant since 1999. Room occupancy is higher during weekdays compared to weekends, with less seasonal variation in demand, confirming the importance of the business visitor market.
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