The group formerly known as L.A. Inc. changes its name -- again

At least the folks in charge of promoting tourism for Los Angeles won’t get any more calls asking for tattoo estimates.

It was only 10 years ago that the city’s tourism panel changed its name from the Los Angeles Convention and Visitors Bureau to “L.A. Inc.”

Now the bureau is changing its name again, this time to the Los Angeles Tourism & Convention Board.

“Our previous name, L.A. Inc., did not reference the industry that we serve, nor did it clearly delineate our Los Angeles geography to our growing number of international visitors,” said Mark Liberman, president and chief executive of the Los Angeles Tourism & Convention Board.

The name L.A. Inc. had been chosen because it was a shorter and sounded more contemporary. But besides not being descriptive enough, the name posed another problem, officials said. It was often confused with “LA Ink,” the popular reality show on TLC about a tattoo parlor in Hollywood.

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