More than 100 Errors on RI Tourism Website

Name: Go Local Prov
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Friday, April 01, 2016

GoLocalProv Business Team

The errors are stacking up in the new Rhode Island tourism campaign. On Wednesday, numerous members of the Commerce Corporation’s staff had been redeployed to review the new tourism website to identify errors and make corrections.

This is after a Boston ad agency developed the site and it was launched to the public and potential visitors in Rhode Island. The Boston agency — Connelly Partners — was not one of the three agencies awarded contracts to rebrand the Rhode Island tourism. Moreover, Commerce has not issued any RFPs for the rebranding of the website.

Connelly Partners did work with Commerce Corp's Chief Marketing Officer Betsy Wall when she served as the executive director of the Massachusetts Office of Travel & Tourism. Both were fired when Governor Charlie Baker took office in 2015. Both left under some controversy.

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According to staff members at Commerce who spoke to GoLocal, nearly 100 errors have been found, including stock photos of other parts of the country and factual errors.

Video footage from Iceland used by RI tourism officials

A range of photos that are presented on the Rhode Island tourism website as places in Rhode Island are in fact stock photos. These include a picturesque photo of bicycles at the end of a pier -- a photo search finds that it is a stock photo sold online.

Shuffling Staff

Staff from other functions have been deployed to examine and work to correct the website.

The website errors are just the latest faux pas in the effort to re-invent Rhode Island’s tourism efforts. A video released by the Commerce Corp included a scene from Iceland, the logo mark has been widely criticized, and the tagline — "warmer-cooler" — has become a source of ridicule in Rhode Island and across the globe.