COVID-19 kept international travel from Utah's national parks, hurting local businesses
No international tourism due to COVID-19 hits Bryce Canyon's Ruby's Inn hard
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Springtime hit Bryce Canyon with a cold shoulder.
In what is typically the coldest of Utah's five national parks, warming weather usually blossoms with opportunities for adventure and exponential economic growth as people flock to the world-renown red rock hoodoos and dense wood.
But not this year.
Lance Syrett, General Manager of Ruby's Inn in Bryce Canyon City, leads one of the hardest-hit businesses in a tourism industry hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Personally, I had to go to the guy who helped train me when I started in hotels in 2003 and lay him off," Syrett said. "You know, that broke my heart because he's committed to this business and we consider him part of the family. And we had that story over and over again with a lot of our good people."