What strategies would you suggest could be used to get residents and community leaders to focus on senses, feelings, and memories that would represent the marketing vision of a vacation on Long Lake?

Dr Richard ‘Rick’ M. Lagiewski, Rochester Institute of Technology, USA Long Lake is a small town (852 inhabitants) located in the centre of the Adirondack Park in the state of New York (see http://www.longlake-ny.com/). The town is appropriately named after its 14-mile-long lake. Tourism is a major industry there, but also in the entire Adirondack Park.
This has been the case since the 1950s when destinations in the Adirondack Park became easily accessible for family vacations due to the development of automobiles, a booming post-war economy, increased leisure time and income. This small town in the Adirondack Park was appealing to visitors since it offered them something different than the life in the city: private cottages, untouched nature, and numerous opportunities to enjoy the outdoors.
Inevitably, however, the number of other destinations developing in the Adirondack Park that offered the same services kept increasing, and hence resulted in saturated supply.
Visitors come to Long Lake to enjoy outdoor activities (bird-watching, biking, camping, canoeing, boating, cross-country skiing, fishing, hiking, hunting, snowmobiling, star gazing)
as well as concerts, craft fairs, and other events. The town’s current marketing efforts are focused essentially on activities that visitors can engage in while in Long Lake. However, all the activities and events found in Long Lake can also be found in many of the other Adirondack townships. Also, most towns offer the same type of accommodation and dining options, and for that matter the same tourism infrastructure in general.