I used to work up there and the tourism season is very short.

Anyways, here we go....There's obviously places that are in the middle of nowhere and no tourism flow to speak of (North Dakota comes to mind, no offense to any highly successful vacation rental investor there *crickets*) so those are not great places to start a vacation rental if there is not something nearby for people to go visit.

This city thrives on tourism so STRs are usually welcome but there are areas that want to keep it to residents only. 3. 

Tourism seems to increase consistently and if the economy tanks, regional tourism increases. 

Rents tend to run ~ $1/sqft.Conversely, the STR scene feeds off the other facet of the greater Pensacola rental market: tourism.

We continue to see high inbound population growth, here in Florida and throughout many areas of the South.  

Is there a lot of tourism/demand for air bnb/vrbo?

Yes, I am very aware of the transient room tax situation for short-term rentals as I operated one for 14 years, a B&B for 12, and was a tourism director for several years. 

A large chunk of our economy is tourism oriented, and this meshes very well with real estate.

The area has always been a tourism driven area with most single family homes being vacation rentals.