The following comments were my contribution posted earlier today as part of the discussion “What do you think are the most important marketing messages for outdoor recreation and travel for 2009?” on the LinkedIn Outdoor Recreation and Travel Industry Marketing Network group.

I think that a viable campaign might follow the concept of “Slow Down and Get Off the Interstate”. I’m not referring to “Easy Off / Easy On” interchanges, toll booths, or the McDonald’s / Exxon rest areas. When times get tough, we tend to search for nostalgia. For different generations, this has different meanings and relates to different historical times. In every instance, that nostalgia involves a time when the pace of life was far slower, with a great deal of enjoyment gained from simple things. With every news cycle reporting more job losses and criminal behavior from the Bernie Madoffs of society, people want to slow down and get off of this wild ride.

With belt-tightening an economic necessity along with that search for nostalgia, I suspect that families will be doing more together. Grandparents and grandchildren will travel together, siblings will revisit their childhoods through family reunions, and the providers of outdoor recreational services are positioned to provide the venues and amenities to make it all possible.

We do not know what the future has in store, other than change itself, in either the short or long term. Gasoline might be $2.00.9 per gallon or it might be $450.9 per gallon … and the cost of jet fuel might put the cost of air travel out of reach for the average American (if it isn’t already). Regardless of where the ride takes us, Americans will still spend leisure time together. It is the responsibility of the outdoor recreation and travel industry to persuade people to spend that vacation time “close to home” rather than “at home”.

With the outstanding value that family campgrounds, in particular, have to offer, a simple marketing messages sums it all up: “Slow Down and Get Off the Interstate” … and rediscover America, your family, and yourself in the process.