It's economy is based mostly on tourism, but I'm not really looking to rent it as a vacation home.

Our market stays strong due to military bases, tourism, government jobs, safety and security.

Tourism makes up 0.001% of my market. 

I'm not sure who the current primary employers are ...in the past, it was manufacturing (which is now probably gone), rail road (now probably diminished), and healthcare (I know that one of the bigger hospitals in the area closed a while ago, and I'm not sure if it was replaced).  ...These days, I'm assuming tourism may be bigger than it was when I was young, but I don't know if tourism has been enough to keep the city in good economic shape...

As for Grand Rapids, it’s a popular town with lots of tourism, so if you were to buy a single family I would personally use it as a rental, as the appreciation is not very high for the area.

Tourism still appears the leading economic driver which will help support short-term rentals.  

I live in Hawaii full time and will say we've had an insane spike in tourism again - lots of visitors and demand for rental cars, dinner reservations, room rentals, tourist activities, etc.

So I need to identify certain markets where I can find potential population or tourism growth and high cashflow, preferably vacation homes. 

People come up and spend the summer, or just summer weekends here.The area is gorgeous in the summer, and has a decent level of summer tourism.

However; Deschutes County is discouraging tourism until at least May 15th due to the virus, therefore; we are probably going to lease again until next year.