Scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy have been used to investigate the electronic structure of non-stoichiometric V 2 O 3 islands with a vanadyl termination grown on Au͑111͒. The spectroscopic measurements reveal the correlation gap of bulk V 2 O 3 that varies between 0.2 and 0.75 eV for different sample preparations. In addition, gap modulations of roughly 0.2 eV are observed at different locations within the oxide islands. The changes in gap size are attributed to local deviations from the ideal V 2 O 3 stoichiometry in films produced at more oxidizing or reducing conditions. By evaluating the position of the Fermi level with respect to the band edges, a p-type conductance characteristic is dominantly observed for the V 2 O 3 islands, indicative of an efficient hole doping of the V 3d band.