PROVIDENCE – Anika Kimble-Huntley, who was hired in 2021 to direct the state’s marketing and tourism strategy, has left R.I. Commerce Corp. for a job with Las Vegas-based Resorts World Inc.
R.I. Commerce spokesperson Matthew Touchette told Providence Business News on Tuesday that Kimble-Huntley stepped down at the end of April. He declined to disclose her new job. Kimble-Huntley's LinkedIn account identified her new post as vice president of advertising for the casino and resort operator.
“We are looking for a new chief marketing officer,” Touchette said.
A prime mover behind the giant stuffie promotion unveiled in December 2023 and the “All That” campaign in February 2024, Kimble-Huntley did not immediately respond to PBN requests for comment. But she posted a LinkedIn message that read in part, “To all of my casino colleagues, I've missed you! ... It's time to get to work.”
Before joining R.I. Commerce, Kimble-Huntley - a 2023 PBN C-Suite Awards honoree - spent two over two decades in the casino industry. When she arrived in Rhode Island, Kimble-Huntley was charged with creating campaign strategies to boost tourism to attract visitors to the country's smallest state, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic decimated that industry.
Rhode Island's tourism industry comprises 14% of the state’s total private sector employment. The year before the pandemic hit in 2019, traveler spending reached $4.7 billion, generating $843 million in state and local taxes.
"Where we have a big opportunity is heritage tourism. We haven’t gotten into that much, but that will be [a] focus moving forward. Rhode Island has had so many firsts in history. We have to talk about those firsts," Kimble-Huntley told PBN in
a March 17, 2023, Q&A cover story. "A lot of people think that Boston started the Revolutionary War. They didn’t. They’ll say they did. So we have an opportunity there."
Close to a year later, R.I. Commerce unveiled the "All That" campaign, which included multiple short videos showcasing the Ocean State’s landmarks, culinary spots and coastline. The campaign was described at the time as “a new dawn of tourism,” intended to bring in revenue into local communities and driving occupancy throughout the state.
Kimble-Huntley later told PBN in
a Q&A interview the state’s residents are equally important in better promoting in how Rhode Island is "All That."
“Being seen as a [welcoming] destination … takes all of us in Rhode Island to be part of that experience,” she said.
In a statement Wednesday Gov. Daniel J. McKee praised Kimble-Huntley for her “exceptional leadership and unwavering dedication to showing the nation and the world why Rhode Island is truly ‘All That.’
“While Rhode Island Commerce searches for the state’s next chief marketing officer, we are fully prepared to seamlessly continue building on the strategic marketing momentum created by Anika and her team,” he said.
Three months ago, state tourism officials released
a five-year strategic plan to continue increasing visitation to Rhode Island.
The roadmap includes a comprehensive inventory assessment of the physical assets in the state and provides benchmarks that tourism officials hope can bring annual state and local tax revenue related to tourism from the $935 million in 2023 past the $1 billion threshold, Kimble-Huntley said at the time.
And now, the state will need a new marketing head to help further the state's tourism efforts.
On May 19, R.I. Commerce’s board of directors voted to renew contracts for tourism, advertising, marketing and public relations services to the Florida-based Zimmerman Agency and The RDW Group Inc.
The one-year contracts, worth up to $4 million each, include a two-year option for renewal to the firms who held the previous contracts set to expire on June 30. R.I. Commerce released a request for proposals on April 11 and received five responses, with a committee choosing to stay with its "agencies of record," said Senior Director of Advertising and Public Relations Robin Erickson.
On Thursday, Rhode Island-themed advertisements will begin running on the History Channel as part of a nationwide commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the founding of the U.S. R.I. Commerce allocated $965,000 for the campaign, which was funded with an $10.6 million grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration awarded in fiscal 2021.
Some elected officials have been pushing to increase the state’s investments in tourism development. Legislation has been filed by Sen. Robert Britto, D-East Providence, that would increase the allocation of hotel tax revenue provided to R.I. Commerce by redirecting the 5% of revenue collected in the South County tourism district that currently goes to the Providence Warwick Convention & Visitors Bureau.
Touchette said the agency welcomes any additional revenue to its tourism and marketing budget.
“We’ll take it,” he said.
(SUBS 2nd paragraph to CORRECT source of Kimble-Huntley's new job; ADDS paragraphs 11-12 with comment from governor; MINOR edits.)
Christopher Allen is a PBN staff writer. You may contact him at Allen@PBN.com. PBN Special Projects Editor James Bessette contributed to this report.
