Did you know Los Angeles has the largest municipal park in the country? Find out more green facts about LA on discoverLosAngeles.com’s new Green Travel site (created by LA INC. - the city’s official marketing organization):

http://www.discoverlosangeles.com/visitors/green-la

Leave a comment if you feel anything’s missing from the site, and we’ll petition to have it added.

The 2008 National Business Travel Association (NBTA) International Convention & Exposition, to be held in Los Angeles from July 27-30, is on pace to be the largest convention in the association’s history. With a little more than three months away, more than 90 percent of 18,493 blocked hotel rooms have already been reserved.

“Last year, we declared the 2007 convention in Boston to be the largest and most successful in the 39-year history of the event. This year’s convention will undoubtedly be even more impressive,” said Kevin Maguire, president and CEO of NBTA. “With questions about how economic changes will impact businesses, it’s more important than ever for corporate travel buyers to sharpen their skills to maximize travel value for their companies. Los Angeles is one of the most important business travel destinations in the world, and it is proving to be an attractive destination for NBTA 2008 attendees.” More than a quarter of LA’s domestic and international visitors are business travelers. In fact, Los Angeles draws 6.2 million domestic business travelers annually and 1.3 million international business travelers.

“The success NBTA is seeing with respect to its record-setting attendance is indicative of what we’re seeing across the board when conventions arrive in Los Angeles,” said Mark Liberman, president and CEO of LA INC. The Los Angeles Convention and Visitors Bureau. “Last fiscal year, attendance for conventions held at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Downtown jumped as high as 20 percent compared to attendance at the same conventions held in other cities in 2006. Meeting professionals understand this trend and are booking Los Angeles at an unprecedented pace.” LA INC. forecasts 43 citywide conventions will be booked by the end of fiscal year 2008; totaling 646,000 room nights and generating an economic impact of $355 million for Los Angeles in the coming years.

The 2008 NBTA International Convention & Exposition
Widely recognized as the must-attend event for business travel buyers, suppliers, industry leaders and business travel journalists, the 2008 NBTA International Convention & Exposition will be held in Los Angeles from July 27-30. More than 6,500 travel professionals are expected to take advantage of the convention’s programming, designed to empower attendees to maximize value for their companies, including more than 40 seminars on the most important topics in business travel, more than 400 companies exhibiting in the Expo and countless opportunities for networking with peers. For details, visit www.nbtaconvention.org.

About NBTA
The National Business Travel Association (NBTA) is the world’s premier business travel organization. U.S.-based NBTA and its regional subsidiaries – NBTA Asia Pacific, NBTA Canada and NBTA Mexico – serve more than 3,200 members in 30 nations around the globe. NBTA has 41 U.S. Chapters with more than 5,000 members. NBTA members are corporate and government travel and meetings managers, as well as travel service providers, who collectively manage and direct more than US$170 billion of global business travel expenditures annually. The association provides industry-leading networking, education & professional development, research, news & information, and advocacy. For more information, visit www.nbta.org.

About LA INC.
LA INC. The Los Angeles Convention and Visitors Bureau is a private, nonprofit business association whose primary mission is to market and promote Los Angeles as the premier site for meetings, conventions and leisure travel. Though not part of city government, LA INC. is recognized as the city’s official tourism marketing organization. For more information, visit the official visitor information Web site of Los Angeles at www.discoverLosAngeles.com.