Tel Aviv welcomes tech visitors after Gaza war cancellations

Tel Aviv is still feeling some of the effects of the seven-week summer war with terrorists in Gaza, when rockets flew in the direction of the city, most intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome system. Hardest hit is the tourism sector, and in parallel, the important international conference business. Israel is the preferred site for dozens of international events, and because of security limitations on large gatherings over the summer, many of these events were canceled or postponed. Now, however, the scene is coming back to life.

Among the events affected, said Hila Oren, CEO of the Tel Aviv Global Tourism Administration, was the grandaddy of Israeli tech events — DLD, the annual “Digital-Life-Design” event taking place in Tel Aviv this week. The event brings together thousands of Israeli and international entrepreneurs and investors to discuss tech matters, business, funding issues, and other bread-and-butter technology industry topics — but its main function is to provide a venue for entrepreneurs and investors to meet and make deals. Modeled after the DLD events in Germany, the brainchild of German publisher Hubert Burda, the Israeli version is organized by start-up guru Yossi Vardi, the first Israeli (along with his partners) to make it big in the high-tech world when ICQ was bought out in the ’90s.

The September date for DLD was set a year in advance, said Oren — which meant that speakers, investors, and start-up owners from around the world were finalizing their travel plans just as Operation Protective Edge reached its height. “About 10% to 15% of those who planned to come in from abroad for DLD canceled,” said Oren. “Despite that, there are more people at the event this year than there were last year.” Final figures aren’t in, but at least 5,000 people — Israelis and visitors — are expected at DLD and the dozens of ancillary tech events taking place in Tel Aviv this week.

Among those who did not cancel were the winners of StartTLV, a city-sponsored tech contest that hundreds of entrepreneurs from abroad entered, in the hope of winning the grand prize — an all-expense paid VIP tour of the “Start-Up Nation.” Participating start-ups hailed from 16 countries — Norway, United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, Serbia, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, South Africa, New Zealand, Korea, India, Peru, Colombia, Denmark, and Chile. The winners get a firsthand guided tour of Tel Aviv’s start-up infrastructure and have the opportunity to meet with peers and investors.

DLD and StartTLV are two examples of how the city is now “on the map,” according to Oren, whose job it is to promote “brand Tel Aviv.” That brand, said Oren, revolves around Tel Aviv’s “vibe” as a city of innovation, as well as a city that “never stops. People perceive of Israel as unsafe, but Tel Aviv is very safe. As a woman, I can tell you that I feel perfectly safe walking down Rothschild Boulevard at 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning. There are people around, and the place is alive. It is the safest place anywhere, and not many cities have that level of personal safety,” she said.

Unfortunately, the scenes on international television screens of Tel Aviv residents scurrying for shelters as sirens announcing incoming Hamas rockets somewhat belied that image. Oren doesn’t blame anyone for panicking. “We had a very rough summer here, and of course you have to expect that people are going to respond to their perceptions.” But once the war was over, said Oren, things started to bounce back. “We got some calls from people who had canceled their reservations and couldn’t get onto another flight, as well as from others whose companies and institutions told them they couldn’t come. But the response we got was overwhelmingly supportive, with many people telling us they hoped we would be okay and that the events would go on as planned.”

One thing Oren has never had, she said, was a phone call from an organization or even from a university-affiliated speaker who said they were canceling because they were boycotting Israel. “The business sector is resilient, and it’s serious,” said Oren. “It just doesn’t happen.”

While there were moments when it seemed that a year’s worth of promoting Brand Tel Aviv would go down the drain because of the war, Oren said that she and her staff were determined to go through with this week’s tech events, no matter what. “We would have done it just for Israelis even if all the foreign visitors had canceled. If we are the Start-Up City, we want to show off not just to visitors, but to our own people as well,” she said.

“We actually feel very privileged and lucky to be doing this work,” said Oren. “We get a lot of positive feedback from visitors to Tel Aviv, with very little criticism. That’s a treat for Israelis working in government, who are constantly being criticized for anything and everything.”