More than 1m workers in the US hospitality industry could lose their jobs within weeks, the US Chamber of Commerce has warned.

Thomas Donohue, the chamber's president and chief executive, told a meeting of its members that the industry was "the short-term stress point in the economy."

Starwood Hotels, which operates the Sheraton and W chains and is particularly exposed to the battered New York economy, has so far axed 23 per cent of its staff, or 12,000 employees.

The industry's troubles extend far beyond New York. MGM Mirage, the casino and hotels group, has laid off 6,000 full and part-time employees, in part because most of its big properties are in Las Vegas, a city which relies heavily on air traffic.

Both Hilton Hotels and Marriott have implemented staff reductions on a hotel-by-hotel basis, with most cuts falling in large cities such as New York and San Francisco. Wyndham International, the upmarket hotels operator, has cut 1,600 employees, or 5 per cent of its workforce.

Britain's tourism industry, which had just begun showing signs of recovering from the foot-and-mouth crisis in August, was also knocked by the attacks, government figures show.

Visitor spending in August was down by 12 per cent compared with the same time last year, according to national statistics released on Friday, but that was an improvement on the 17 per cent fall in July.

The British Tourist Authority, which a week ago forecast a £1bn ($1.48bn) drop in tourism earnings in the last quarter, said the impact of the September 11 attacks would be far greater than foot-and-mouth.

Thomas Cook has made 270 redundancies and First Choice is to lay off 1,100 staff, about 10 per cent of its workforce.

First Choice, the smallest of the UK's four largest package holidaymakers, said bookings for the winter were down by 33 per cent and by 20 per cent for next summer.