BUSINESS people in Bolton are fearing the worst after the terrorist attacks in America.

The world's most successful capitalist economy could plunge into a full-scale recession which would have a knock-on effect in the UK and other countries.

Shortages of orders and a lack of investment would inevitably lead to job cuts in a number of sectors.

For the moment, the aviation and travel industries are the ones taking a hammering.

Andrew Dickson, who runs St Andrews Travel, is president of Bolton and Bury Chamber and chairman of ABTA in the North-west.

Ringing from London just before an ABTA crisis meeting, he said his company had so far had to cancel about 60 holidays.

But it had been largely successful in rebooking alternative destinations.

He said: "Bookings have been down 50 per cent this week, but we think the mood is changing."

On the wider picture, he believes Bolton will cope with any recession which hits the town as a result of recent events and the American reaction.

But he thinks many firms will have to move up a gear and work harder than they did before.

He said: "You cannot expect small businesses to survive a downturn unless they work harder at marketing and promoting themselves and put in the extra hours."

Nigel Samuel, chairman and chief executive of Bolton paper-makers Charles Turner & Co, admitted: "We are worried."

The company operates in a global market which was fragile before the outrages at the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon in Washington.

"This throws everything into chaos," Mr Samuel said.

He thought this week's interest rate reductions would help in the medium term, but nobody could predict the final outcome until the extent of military action was known.

Paul Dickinson, managing director of Fluidair Compressors, moved his business from Miller Street, Radcliffe to Kent Street, Bolton, earlier this year.

Having earlier moved most of his manufacture of air compressors and air pumps to Turkey, he is watching the international situation with particular interest.

He believes the effects on the UK economy are difficult to predict, but he thinks some degree of recession is more likely than a growth period.

He said: "But if we have a war it will change the whole thing."

Peter Weidenbaum at Trumeter in Radcliffe, chairman of the Bolton and Bury Export Club, says business contacts in New York are "shell-shocked" and simply want to be left alone for a week or two.

He believes the immediate effect of the attack has been to slow down exporters' decisions on investments and projects.

"The long term depends on what the west does now," he said.