Northern Israel experiencing ‘worst blow to businesses’ in history

Proprietor of bed-and=breakfast says tourists “simply don’t come” to the north, tens of thousands of businesses may fail in the coming year.

By World Israel News Staff

Business owners in northern Israel, even those in communities not in close proximity to the Lebanon border that have not been evacuated, are experiencing crippling financial challenges due to the ongoing war.

Proprietors of vacation cabins in the scenic region have been particularly hard hit, as numbers of international visitors have plunged and domestic tourism has similarly dropped off.

Yemima Katzav, who operates a bed-and-breakfast in Amirim, near Tzfat, said that the economic impact on her business has been devastating.

Katzav told Hebrew-language news site Kippa that summer is typically the peak season for her business, and that in previous years, she had no availability from June to September.

Now, she said, she does not have a single booking for her rooms.

“We have lost hundreds of thousands of shekels, to the point where we’re considering shutting down the business,” Katzav told Kipa.

“People do not come to the north, it’s simply terrible. We are a family with four children, with tears in our eyes, because [the inn] has been our primary source of income for more than a decade.”

She alluded to what many have claimed are different Israeli government policies regarding the north of the country and the center, including Tel Aviv.

“If the tourism industry in Tel Aviv had collapsed how businesses in the north are collapsing, the reaction would probably have been different – and it’s sad to say that.”

According to recent reports, some 60,000 Israeli businesses may fail in 2024 due to the ongoing war.

“There is effectively no sector in the economy that is immune to the repercussions of the ongoing war,” Yoel Amir, the CEO of CofaceBDI, a financial and business analysis company, told The Times of Israel.

“Businesses are coping with a very complex reality: fear about an escalation of the war coupled with uncertainty about when the fighting will end alongside continued challenges such as staff shortage, low demand, growing financing needs, an increase in procurement costs and logistical issues, and most recently the export ban by Turkey are all making it increasingly difficult for Israeli businesses to survive this period.”