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.