ALEXANDRIA, Va. – After two stints in Chicago, Coverings is setting it sights farther west ... as in Los Angeles.



National Trade Productions (NTP), the manager/producer of the annual stone-and-tile, show, announced today that the 2011 edition will take place that April at the Los Angeles Convention Center.



Next year’s Coverings will take place on April 27-30, as previously announced, in Orlando at the Orange County Convention Center. Since 2006, the show alternated between Orlando and McCormick Place in Chicago.



“Orlando is practically home base for Coverings,” said Jennifer Hoff, NTP president of events for National Trade Productions, noting the ten previous editions of the show in the Florida city. “It has a proven track record for us. We know it can accommodate the size and scope of the show, is accessible for both domestic and international travelers, and is in a core region for tile-and stone-business.



“But, for several years, Coverings has had its eye on the West Coast since it, too, is a critical tile-and-stone market. Though there’s been an aggressive outreach to build attendance from this area; it’s time to be even more targeted. So, we’re going to take the show to the proverbial mountain.”



Los Angeles played host to the inaugural Coverings in 1988, and the show appeared in the Los Angeles area two additional times. Since 1997, the event’s been in Orlando, save for New Orleans' 2001 show and Chicago in 2007 and this April.



“We hope to return to the Windy City in the future,” Hoff said, “but Los Angeles will enable Coverings to tap into the potential that the Pacific Coast offers.”



In late 2007, NTP announced an additional invitation-only L.A. Boutique version of Coverings, to be held in Long Beach, Calif. in November 2008. In May 2008, however, Coverings’ board of directors postponed the event, and it wasn’t rescheduled.



Coverings is sponsored by ASCER (Ceramic Tile Manufacturers Association of Spain), Confindustria Ceramica (Italian Association of Ceramics), Tile Council of North America (TCNA), Ceramic Tile Distributors Association (CTDA), and National Tile Contractors Association (NTCA).