Also, remember that foreign students have much higher and different hoops to go through from domestic - just to get a student visa, they have to show they have been accepted to the university, and full documentation to the US government that their source of funds is at a minimum enough to pay for roundtrip airfare, the out of state fees for a year, plus lodging and food/health insurance and then some.

Then, consider airfare, fuel costs, general inflation higher, gets more expensive for average folks to travel.

If you are operating a STR in what is primarily a "fly-to" destination, your downside in a recession is much greater, simply because airfare can dominate a travel budget. 

As long as your trip is primarily for your rental activity, you can add a ­vacation to the end of the trip, make a side trip purely for fun, or even enjoy evenings doing vacation activates, and still deduct your entire airfare, rental car, or standard mileage rate if using your own car.

We can work with the facts about person A:- W2 before tax income of 70K- Less than 1 year full time work experience- International travel at least once a year ($2500/yr - airfare, hotel, 50% meal & entertainment cost); assume person A will do land and cultural exploration, spend at least 4 hours a day during travel to speak with real estate agent, visit potential investment building and collect their business cards- Utility expense of $115 ($45/mo cell phone, $40/mo internet, $30/mo electricity.- Rent ($500/mo)- single with no kid- person A is interested in doing a coding bootcamp ($5500 cost) and find a part time web development job in the future; knowledge from coding bootcamp can also help person A to gain knowledge with automation in his current W2 job- Does not own any business, but sometimes would talk about side business or investing opportunities over dinner table with friends and family (average cost for those dinners per month $300)- Share a name with his mom on a residential property while paying $9000 property tax per year.Here are some opportunities for person A:- 18,000 contribution to 401K- 5,500 Roth IRA or SD Roth IRA- maximum 25,000 rental real estate loss- purchase rental real estate with mortgage and take depreciation and property tax and other fees for rental real estate investment.- tax lien investment- open a LLC- Real estate opportunity in Bangkok or Manila (USD$50,000 for apartment, 0.5% rent to price ratio); foreigner can only own condo, not land- Real estate opportunity in Malaysia (USD$80,000, 0.5% rent to price ratio); foreigner can own land- Real estate investing opportunity in Brazil, Greece, or etc.- purchase land through tax sales, find construction company to build and rehab houses.Here is an example of basic tax liability for person A if he does not participate in creative investment activities using 2016 tax rate:Salary                                                         70,000401K contribution                                     (18,000)Roth IRA                                                            -Property tax for Primary Property               (9,000)Bootcamp as miscellaneous deduction      (5,500)Taxable Income                                          37,500Tax Liability (932.5+15% over 932.5)       6,417.63How would you add or modify this sample strategy to help person A to lower his tax liability and turn it into investment fund?

(airfare and hotel?)  

I know you mentioned Destin, but Orlando (due to you know what) has stronger year round bookings, lower cost access (airfare), and international appeal. 

(I'm aware, I couldn't write off any personal things done while there, but food, hotel, airfare, etc.)2.

I'll pay his air fare.

As long as your trip is primarily for your rental activity, you can add a ­vacation to the end of the trip, make a side trip purely for fun, or even enjoy evenings doing vacation activates, and still deduct your entire airfare, rental car, or standard mileage rate if using your own car.