Bournemouth, in the South West of England, was part of the former county of Dorset, and then it has been a unitary authority in April 1997. Bournemouth is immediately adjacent to Poole on its Eastern edge In April 2019, Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole have been merged in a new unitary authority.

The growth of the borough, primarily attributable to tourism, may be traced back to the beginning of the 19^th Century. Whilst the borough grew slowly during the first part of the century, the arrival of the railway in 1870, heralded a period of very rapid growth. With a mild climate, extensive beaches and an array of tourist and visitor facilities Bournemouth has become not only a popular holiday resort and retirement destination but also one of England's most popular conference and convention centres.

Economically Bournemouth is still heavily reliant on tourism and the servicing of its large residential population, there has been considerable development of light industrial and service sector enterprises on the fringes of the borough. Bournemouth University is recognised for its work in the media industries, and in particular the National Centre for Computer Animation (NCCA), which has been at the forefront of computer graphics and animation in the UK since 1989. In 2012, NCCA was awarded The Queen’s Anniversary Prize.

Bournemouth Council (former Bournemouth Borough Council) administers an area of 46.17 square kilometres containing a population of 160 332 people in 1997 (ONS, population estimates,). In 2019, Bournemouth had an estimated population of 193 468, a growth by approximately 20 per cent between 1997 and 2019. Population growth is driven by the increased birth rate; births have exceeded deaths since 2007; and migration. The overall population of Bournemouth grew by 2.4% between 1987 and 1997. Between 2011 and 2019, the population grew by 5.4%, particularly the residents in the 45 to 65 year old group, the baby-boom generation (24.1% of total population).

The local economy

In 1995, the economy of Bournemouth was dominated by service sector employment, especially in distribution, hotels and restaurants which accounted for 29.3 per cent of total employment. Other significant sectors included public administration, education and health (23.4%) and banking, finance and insurance (20%). Overall the service sector accounted for 82.3 per cent of total employment in the borough, manufacturing and construction employed 16.7 per cent of the workforce and only one percent of all workers were employed in primary economic activities.

In 2018, the picture of the economy is almost the same, the main employment sectors are public administration, education and health (29%), banking, financial and insurance (27%), and distribution, hotels and restaurants (26%). The service sector has grown from 82.3% in 1995 to 93.2% in 2018 of total employment. The decline is marked in manufacturing and construction sectors (less than 6%), primary activities employ 0.8% of all workers.

Bournemouth’s largest employers are in the financial services, public services and tourism related industries. Financial services within Bournemouth and the wider conurbation include companies such as the Nationwide Building Society, JP Morgan, Unisys, Ageas and Liverpool Victoria. In 2015, financial and insurance activities contribute around £768 million GVA to the Bournemouth economy (18% of all GVA generated in Bournemouth). Distribution, transport accommodation and food contribute nearly 19%; public administration, education and health contribute nearly 22%; and real estate sector contributes nearly 17% to the local economy. (2015).

Economic growth has, between 1993 and 1995, exceeded the average for the UK by approximately 3.3% and has continued to rise between 1997 and 2000. In 2010 with the impact of the recession, the GVA declined. However, this followed a period of continuous growth rising to £21 875 per head in 2015 and £22 593 per head in 2017; but Bournemouth is growing at a slower rate than the UK (GVA/head -7.4% in 2005, -13.7% in 2015, -18% in 2017).

The labour market is fairly stable with unemployment below 5%.

Business and commerce

In 1996 there were 6 680 enterprises operating within the Bournemouth Borough Council area with 4 020 of them registered for Value Added Tax (VAT) purposes (at present only companies with a turnover in excess of 52 000 per annum must register for VAT). Whilst many of these enterprises are small or medium sized there are a number of larger companies located within the area, Abbey Life (financial services and insurance), Lloyds Bowmaker (financial services) and the Portman Building Society all have their national headquarters situated in Bournemouth. In 2018, 7 630 active enterprises operating in Bournemouth and most of them are micro (89%), 9% are small, 1.6% are medium and only 0.4% are large (more than 250 employment).

Tourism

Tourism, day trips, vacations and conferences are vital to the town economy. Bournemouth has the largest concentration of serviced (hotel and bed and breakfast) accommodation outside of London. Bournemouth attracts a great deal of conference and convention business, with a selection of venues the town is able to host conferences of up to 10 000 delegates and exhibitions of up to 5 000 square metres.

7.53 million people visited Bournemouth in 2019, most were day visitors (6.64 million).; Overseas tourists stayed an average of 12.3 nights, and spent £39.89 per day. Visitors spent a total of £512.4 million. Tourism remains a major activity in Bournemouth.

Education

Over 70 million per annum is derived locally from the teaching of English as a foreign language, a figure only exceeded by London. More traditionally Bournemouth University (BU) has over 17 550 students supported by over 1 580 staff in 2018/2019.

In 2013 the total effect of BU activities (including staff and students) on the levels in direct and secondary spending in the local economies of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) was £251 million. The impact of BU on the levels of income in BCP was almost £55 million. BU students and staff spent over 140 million in conurbation of BCP and generated £1 million per day in economic activities in South West. Bournemouth University remains one of the largest employers in the region.

Communications

Bournemouth is well served by transport links (as is the neighbouring Poole) of a higher standard than for the rest of the county of Dorset. The driving time from Bournemouth, via well maintained AA roads and motorways, to Portsmouth (the furthest East of the South Coast Metropole members) is 51 minutes, to Southampton is 35 minutes, to London 2 hours 12 minutes, to Bristol 1 hour 53 minutes and to Birmingham 3 hours and 4 minutes (Bournemouth Borough Council, 1999). Travel from Bournemouth to London (Waterloo) takes 1 hour 47 minutes and direct services are also available to Scotland, the North East of England and the Midlands.

Bournemouth also enjoys easy access to port facilities in Poole for travel to and from France and the Channel Islands, to Southampton for travel to the Isle of Wight and to Portsmouth for travel to the Isle of Wight, the Channel Islands, France and Spain. Cargo facilities are also available in Poole for Bournemouth based enterprises engaged in import and export trades. Bournemouth International Airport continues to expand its operations with regular flights to and from Dublin, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Amsterdam. The airport is also increasing the number of charter flights to Spain and other destinations on mainland Europe.