The tourism industry in Sussex is taking a battering from the miserable mid-summer weather.

July's sunshine was below average while a month's rain fell in the first two weeks of this month.

Estimates suggest up to a million tourists have stayed away from Sussex's beaches with losses for some seasonal hotspots running into six figures.

Seafront traders battling to keep on staff in near-empty venues warned takings could be the lowest for eight years.

Restaurants and bars such as the Boardwalk, Gemini, the Honey Club and the Beach in Brighton are reporting losses compared to last year.

The Honey Club manager Gavin Haines, 22, said: "It has been an absolute washout. July was awful for us. We are praying for sun on the August bank holiday.

"The weather has gone downhill and we have found we have too many staff so people have been leaving because there are not enough hours available."

Steve Smith, who rents deckchairs and keeps a daily record of the weather, said his takings had fallen by more than half.

He said: "From June 16 to July 24 the weather was absolutely rubbish.

"It was fine from then until August 14, but not fantastic, and now it has gone rubbish again."

Gemini manager John Inch, 43, said: "The peak period for us is the last two weeks of June and first three weeks of July. The weather was abysmal then and it didn't ever hit 20C (68F).

"Over that period I was about 80 per cent down. It was diabolical.

"The summer before last was the worst I have had in eight years but then if this summer doesn't pick up it could be worse."

Mel Heath, of the beachfront Boardwalk restaurant, said: "The bad weather has affected business dramatically. We just aren't getting as many daytrippers.

"We are down by about 50 per cent. On a good day we can be packed and have six or seven chefs, but on a bad day we have none."

Mrs Heath said that while poor weather deterred daytrippers the locals were being kept away by litter and crime.

She said: "In the summer, Brighton has eight million tourists but seven million are just people who come down for one day.

"We can't stop the rain but we could be less dependent on the weather if more people who live in Brighton used the seafront. But they won't because they know what it's like."

Alex Briault, a volunteer at the Brighton Fishing Museum, said: "Numbers have definitely dropped and our donations have dropped. We don't run a business that depends on numbers and tourism but the amount of people walking past dropped by a huge amount and I hear from all the other traders along the seafront that trade is down."

Brighton and Hove City Council played down the impact of the bad weather on the hospitality industry, saying large indoor visitor centres had been enjoying a bumper year.

The Sea Life Centre reported an eight per cent increase in numbers on last summer. Visitors were 15 per cent up at the Royal Pavilion in July.

Spokesman Alan Stone said: "The weather is known to be a very unreliable ally to a British resort.

"That's why for the last 15 years the council and private sector partners have been working hard to create a weather-proof destination that works year-round.

"We don't have comparative visitor figures for the whole city for this summer and last. But we would have expected indoor attractions to have either fared better or less badly than beach-related businesses.

"The Pavilion is part of that plan and other attractions include places like the Sea Life Centre and covered shopping at Churchill Square.

"Providing free things for people to do is also a good idea so events like Pride or Party In The Park, each attracting in the region of 100,000 people, are part of the mix that have helped this year.

"Good weather is always better than bad weather for the city but we have now developed a level of protection that most coastal resorts just don't have.

"We'd expect it to have been a tough year for beach businesses. Last year was exceptional so it would be very odd if takings for beach businesses weren't down on 2003 figures.

"To say local people don't go to the beach is nonsense. It can get messy for the simple reason lots of people do go there and drop tons of litter.

"But it's always cleaned very quickly and very well."