Compactness and local compactness in hyperspaces

We give characterizations for a subspace of a hyperspace, endowed with either the Vietoris or the Wijsman topology, to be compact or relatively compact. Then we characterize—both globally and at the single points—the local compactness of a hyperspace, endowed with either the Vietoris, the Wijsman, or the Hausdorff metric topology. Several examples illustrating the behaviour of local compactness are also included.