About Visit Solent
Visit Solent is being founded on a simple belief: destinations achieve more together when the visitor journey is easier to understand, promote and experience.
The role
Visit Solent is intended to sit alongside established destination organisations, harbour marketing and existing visitor services. It is not being created to replace them.
The initiative is focused on connecting the region's maritime offer so visitors see a coherent journey across harbours, hospitality, attractions, transport and services.
The Solent is one of the world's great maritime destinations, with an exceptional concentration of harbours, marinas, sailing clubs, historic towns, attractions and coastal experiences. Yet visitors still experience it largely as a collection of individual destinations. A yacht may spend one or two nights in Lymington, Cowes, Yarmouth or Hamble, then return home without discovering what lies nearby.
Visit Solent will create a shared destination-marketing layer that helps participating harbours turn this missed potential into measurable commercial value — longer stays, more journeys between harbours and new demand from across the UK and Europe.
Increase dwell time
Show visitors everything available in and around each harbour — from restaurants and attractions to events, activities and maritime experiences — giving them practical reasons to extend their stay.
The opportunity: More visitor berthing nights, greater use of harbour facilities and additional spending in the local economy.
Increase movement
Use harbour-to-harbour referrals, cross-promotion and coordinated itineraries to encourage visitors to explore another participating destination instead of returning directly home.
The opportunity: Additional visitor nights generated from people already enjoying the wider Solent.
Attract new visitors
Build a coordinated international presence for the Solent, beginning with established boating communities in France, Belgium and the Netherlands alongside the wider UK market.
The opportunity: New visiting vessels, additional berthing demand and stronger awareness of every participating harbour.