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About the Isle of Wight

The Isle of Wight, lying some four miles off the Hampshire coast, is known for its outstanding natural beauty and wildlife. Visitors and residents are attracted by the countryside (over half the island is designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty), the 60-mile coastline featuring two stretches of ‘Heritage Coast’, the island’s lifestyle, history and heritage, and events such as the Cowes Week regatta, the Isle of Wight Festival and Bestival.

The island also has a rich maritime and industrial history including boat building, sail making, the manufacture of flying boats and the development of the world’s first hovercraft. Today marine associated activities are still strong, from boat building to training providers to marine event management, but the island has also established a reputation in composites, aerospace engineering and technology. Tourism remains an important contributor to the island’s economy. 

Over recent years the population of the island has significantly increased and major regeneration projects for example Cowes waterfront, have been carried out.

The Isle of Wight is 15 – 20 minutes by high speed passenger ferry from Southampton and Portsmouth, and 30 - 45 minutes by car ferry from Lymington, Southampton and Portsmouth.  It is within two hours of London and within 45 minutes from Southampton International Airport.

The main towns and employment centres (which also attract tourists) are the county town of Newport, Ryde (the island’s second largest town), Cowes (location of annual Cowes Week regatta and international sailing centre), Sandown, Shanklin, and Ventnor.  

Higher education institutions near to the Isle of Wight are the Universities of Southampton, Portsmouth, Chichester and Bournemouth.

The local authority is the Isle of Wight Council (Unitary authority). 

The economy

In the first half of the 1990s the island was in serious recession. Since then there has been significant growth and the island now has a diverse economy. Manufacturing is the most valuable sector in terms of output, while retailing, construction, and business and financial services have seen considerable growth over recent years.

Tourism makes a substantial contribution to sectors such as hotels and catering, retail, transport and other services. Around 2.6 million people visit the Isle of Wight each year. The total tourism spend is estimated at around £360 million per year and tourism accounts for one in four jobs.

The  Isle of Wight Economic Partnership identifies anticipates growth in:

• Creative industries-graphic design, film production, music, artists, games developers, fashion and cosmetics.
• Business services-legal specialists, marketing advisers, event management and IT support.
• High end tourism-a new generation of tourists looking for high quality short breaks is expected to result in a growing demand for boutique hotels, spa breaks, healthy eating and outdoor adventure activities.
• Marine - the island is known as a centre for the marine industry and further development of this sector is anticipated.
• Knowledge based industries-over recent years the island has attracted a growing cluster of high value, knowledge based industries. This has stimulated start-ups for smaller innovative designers and engineers and it is expected that this trend will continue.  

Major employers

Major sectors include the following - see also Isle of Wight job searching: 

• Aerospace- BAE Systems (island site focuses on integrated system technologies and  platform solutions), Britten-Norman (independent civil aircraft manufacturer), GKN Aerospace (high technology integrated structures).
• Engineering & Technology-Enabling Technologies (engineering and project management), Gurit (high-end advanced composite materials and technologies), Solent Composites (engineering solutions using composite materials), Vestas Blades UK (wind power systems).
• Creative industries-Generator (creative design solutions), IM Design (all-service design agency), Marriott Design (design and creative marketing), Matrix E-Business (web design agency), Quay Arts Centre (island’s leading art gallery and live arts venue), Sigma Events Management (organises Isle of Wight International Jazz and Folk and Blues Festivals), Solo (promotes Isle of Wight Festival).
• Cosmetics and fashion- Artigiano (Italian mail order clothing company), Liz Earle Naturally Active Skincare.
• Marine-AAA Marine International (brokerage, charters and corporate hospitality), Into the Blue (marketing, sponsorship, events, media consultancy for marine sector), Offshore Challenges  (sporting/sponsorship, athlete, project and event management, digital agency and technology development), Palmer Johnson Yachts (yacht design and build), Sail Ventures(pioneers new methods of hull manufacture and racing yacht production), Sealift 2 International (pioneered sail-on, sail-off, floating dock system), Seaward Marine (builders of traditional offshore motorboats), South Boats (design and build of commercial catamarans), Spinlock (design and produce high performance yacht products and accessories), United Kingdom Sailing Academy; Yacht Racing Academy.
• Electronics-Datum Electronics Ltd (rotary torque and power measuring instrumentation), Milmega (design and manufacture of solid state, high-power microwave amplifiers), RF Engines Ltd (specialist electronic systems designer), Yokogawa Marex Ltd (software solutions to process industries).
• Green industries - Liz Earle Cosmetics, Green Island Tourism, Rapanui - The Green Clothing Company, Real Island Food Company.

In the public sector the unitary authority (Isle of Wight Council), the educational institutions, and the healthcare trust are also major employers.

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