FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Media Contacts:
Erica Papillion
New Orleans Metropolitan Convention & Visitors Bureau
504-566-5044
epapillion@neworleanscvb.com

Kelly Schulz
504-566-5045 
kschulz@neworleanscvb.com

New Orleans Metropolitan Convention & Visitors Bureau Bolsters Sales Team

NEW ORLEANS – November 29, 2006 – The New Orleans Metropolitan Convention & Visitors Bureau (NOMCVB) is pleased to announce the appointments of Ryan O’Dowd and Lyn Hallaron to the convention sales department.

With eight years in the hospitality industry, Ryan O’Dowd was most recently Northeast/Southeast sales manager at the Hotel Monteleone. At the NOMCVB, O’Dowd will focus on corporate accounts in the Southeast.

Lyn Hallaron, a native of New Orleans, was a sales manager for special events, and later promoted to director of special events at the Audubon Nature Institute. With the NOMCVB sales team, Hallaron will concentrate on the association market in the Midwest.

“New Orleans’ convention industry has had a series of successes in 2006, with the first citywide meeting to return, American Library Association's annual conference in June and New Orleans' largest convention in one year, the National Association of Realtors® earlier this month,” said Nikki Nicholson, vice president of convention sales for the New Orleans CVB. “We also hosted several corporate meetings such as Delta and Avaya, opened a Northeast Sales Office, and had a variety of successful association meetings this summer and fall. Now we are now poised to continue our success into 2007 with the addition of two sales managers, Lyn Hallaron and Ryan O'Dowd, to generate new business in the Southeast and Midwest and spread the message that New Orleans is back. We are thrilled to welcome them to our team.”

Hallaron and O’Dowd will be based at the NOMCVB’s headquarters, 2020 St. Charles Avenue. Hallaron can be reached at 504-566-5083, lhallaron@neworleanscvb.com and O’Dowd can be contacted at 504-566-5039, rodowd@neworleanscvb.com.

The New Orleans Metropolitan Convention & Visitors Bureau (www.neworleanscvb.com) is the driving force behind New Orleans' most important industry, tourism, which generates $5 billion in visitor spending and creates 85,000 jobs. Today the cultural riches, sensual indulgences and unparalleled service that define the New Orleans experience continue to flourish, as they have for centuries. The most celebrated and historic core of the city - including the French Quarter, Central Business District, Warehouse and Arts District, Magazine Street and Garden District - not only remains intact, both physically and spiritually, but is thriving. The New Orleans CVB is proudly welcoming visitors and business travelers every day.