Cherokee isn't my style personally, but the casino there just expanded exponentially in size, which is drawing more and more visitors to the area, and is driving up property values a lot.

And in BC the train draws tons of visitors, supposedly 80,000, in November and December. 

If you are close to attractions that will attract visitors, why not STR both of them?

If it's a beach town, it's gonna be dead in winter, if it's a mountain house you probably will get more visitors in winter. 

(If you have a subscription to AirDNA, you can look at the other Airbnb listings used to generate the estimate.)A few unscientific reasons I think these homes still do really well:A lot of visitors don't care as much about being in the heart of a place -- be it a city or a ski town.

It's the most visited national park in the nation by far, and that region is on track to receive 13m visitors in 2019.  

The nice thing about renting to visiting professors / scholars is that schools rarely, if ever, offer housing to these visitors and they are much more mature than students.

Or have someone you know visit. Or

There is an exterior door that is unlocked where mail (locked and need a key to access) is located and visitors can be buzzed up to the units.

Being Part of a Place with Growing Attractiveness for the FutureWhile a state like California has nearly endless attractions for visitors, most property owners would say that it is headed in the wrong direction.