Las Vegas hospitality jobs are seeing the effects of the current economy.

Meeting Professionals International and American Express recently released a survey stating that 7 percent of business meetings scheduled for 2009 have been canceled, according to an article by iStockAnalyst. Attendance at meetings still being held is expected to decrease by about 5 percent. According to STR Global, this has caused average hotel occupancy rates to decline 8 percent to 47.3 percent from last year.

Las Vegas has taken the brunt of the hospitality industry’s failure. In January, 30,000 hotel room nights booked for conferences were canceled, meaning a loss of $20 million. During 2008, the city saw a 4 percent decrease in visitors from 2007 and a 6 percent decrease in the number of conventions and events held. As of December, the number of visitors was down by 11 percent when compared to 2007.

On top of that, Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo and US Bancorp have all canceled meetings that would have pumped hundreds of thousands of dollars into the economy.

The Las Vegas-Paradise area’s leisure and hospitality industry employed 270,700 workers during December 2008, according to the United States Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is down from 270,900 workers during November 2008 and a 1.1 percent decrease from last year.

Overall, the area saw a total non-farm employment of 917,400 workers during December, down from 922,000 workers during November and a 1.7 percent decrease from last year. The Las Vegas area’s unemployment rate rose from 7.9 percent during November to 9.1 percent during December.