Fears grew today that Worthing could be the target for hundreds of asylum seekers in the next few months.

The town's hotels and bed and breakfast accommodation could be filled as towns along the South Coast deal with the increasing number of refugees arriving in the country looking for help.

The Government has announced tough new measures aimed to differentiate between genuine asylum seekers and those who are not fleeing oppression but are still claiming asylum. However, places still have to be found for those who have already arrived and coastal towns are proving a popular location.

Hoteliers in Worthing have warned that Worthing Council's plans to cut the borough's tourism budget in half and concentrate on industry instead could lead to hotel beds being taken up by asylum seekers from war-torn countries such as Kosovo, Rwanda and Afghanistan as holiday-makers look elsewhere.

One hotel manager said she believed some hotels in the town were already beginning to take in asylum seekers. She said: "It is not a major situation at the moment but I have heard that some hotel owners in the town have been asked to take some people in and have agreed to do so because they believe it is the only way they are going to get any money.

Resident Peter Mayhew, of Broadwater Road, who has attended several council meetings called to discuss cutting the tourism budget, said: "The same situation is happening in other places, in Hastings and Kent, so it is not surprising we are starting to see signs of it here.

"I don't like the idea of being unwelcoming to those people who really need to be protected but I think the whole system needs to be checked out again and properly monitored."

Hotel owners were furious at the council's decision to axe the budget earlier this year, which means the end of the Worthing Guide, which gives details of accommodation in the area, and the popular Victorian Seaside Festival.

Worthing Hospitality Association is concerned a large chunk of

the £65 million visitors bring to the town every year will be lost and some hotels could be forced to close.

But the council insists it has not abandoned tourism altogether as it has given £50,000 to the West Sussex Tourism Initiative to market the town on its behalf. Members stress that if Worthing is to be a force to be reckoned with in the future it needs to concentrate on expanding its business and economy.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.