Gary Khan is a real internationalist and proud example of India’s new breed of economic and political leaders. He is a keen advocate pushing his country and city region to the international fore in the meetings and convention industry.
Khan was born in India, but as the son of a veterinary doctor and diplomat, spent many years abroad. His father, he says, was the founding principal and dean of the first veterinary degree college in India, in his home town of Hyderabad.
As a boy, Gary Khan says his pet was a collie dog given to the family by Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia when his father was assigned as a UN Advisor in Addis Ababa. Bobo the collie travelled the world with the Khans, says Gary, who is no globetrotting slouch himself.
“I lived and was schooled in eight countries in Africa, the Middle East and Europe when my father was a UN diplomat for 18 years,” he says.
Khan attended university in Los Angeles and went on to study for an MBA. He moved to San Francisco to take up a post with United Airlines as a 22-year-old recruit to their sales and marketing department.
“I was always focused to pursue a career in multinational enterprises, specifically global sales,” he says, noting it was exciting to be involved in the evolution of the airline industry, at a time of Open Skies policies and free market environment in the US.
Khan says he was proud to play a part in United’s revolutionary approach to sales as it built up a strong presence on the West coast.
“Silicon Valley found it to their advantage to forge tie-ups with United and I enjoyed being part of a team that created a low cost carrier within the company,” he says.
After seeking early retirement from United Airlines, Khan was awarded lifelong travel benefits, and moved back to his birthplace of Hyderabad in 2011, where he became part of the great developing story of India and its emergence as an economic giant.
United Airlines would certainly endorse Hyderabad’s award-winning Rajiv Gandhi International Airport where, soon after landing, Khan was appointed by the board to head the fledgling HCVB.
“With my global sales and marketing background, a diverse educational exposure, and long work experience in the US, including at United Airlines where I had vast experience in the meetings sector, I was appointed by the State Government of Andhra Pradesh and the HCVB board to form the CVB structure, brand Hyderabad globally and take it to the world and bring the world to Hyderabad,” he says.
Khan and his team started the HCVB, India’s first and so far only regional convention bureau, from scratch, setting up an infrastructure of a non-profit organisation completely funded by membership. The new entity took its first international MICE steps in the market at IMEX 2011 in Frankfurt.
What, I asked, did Khan use as a model for the new bureau?
“Before the decision was made to form the HCVB the state government had tasked the Indian School of Business with carrying out a feasibility study,” he explains. “The city was compared with and modelled on work done in Daejon in South Korea and Montevideo, Uruguay. Their experiences were compared to Hyderabad and its potential. The results proved to be a no brainer. The message came back loud and clear: a bureau needed to be formed.
“We first targeted Europe and the US for business,” says Khan, who shunned the offers of highly paid international consultants, opting instead to build a homegrown professional team based on the experience of the HCVB Board.
“I didn’t hear anything new from the consultants who had no consideration for our bottom line. They thought we had bottomless pockets. There was zero value in having them on board. I learned very quickly, together with our local players. Now Hyderabad has the right players in place and 10,942 quality bedrooms in hotels including chains such as Westin, Marriott, Hyatt and Trident.”
More four- and five-star hotels are being built and include Holiday Inn, Oberoi and Hilton.
The jewel in the emerging infrastructure meetings crown being forged in Hyderabad is the world-class Hyderabad International Convention Centre (HICC) which can accommodate 6,500 delegates and has the five-star Novotel attached. The facility is managed by Accor and was venue host for the ICCA Congress in 2010.
“The impact of the 2010 ICCA Congress was tremendous,” says Khan. “It brought Hyderabad instant recognition for its ability to host large congresses. More importantly, international delegates got the chance to experience the city’s culture, history, cuisine, traditions, hospitality and professionalism. That was the congress that paved the way for the creation of the CVB. Then came the UN Conference on Biodiversity in October 2012 that brought in world leaders and 11,600 delegates from 192 countries.”
Khan says it is so important that the state politicians are backing the HCVB and HICC. “With a committed young Chief Minister of the state and proactive government officials, we feel a great support for our efforts to market Hyderabad to the world.” Khan claims the efforts have earned Hyderabad recognition as India’s Congress Capital.
Quite a statement in a country which often bears a reputation in business for being dogged by bureaucracy.
“Things have changed. It is not the India of the yester-years,” he says. “After the opening up of the economic flood gates and seeing the huge investments coming in, India now thinks big, it thinks global and knows where it wants to go and how to get there.
“Hyderabad leads the country in the fields of IT, healthcare, pharma and financial services,” Khan says, adding that it is India’s hub for Microsoft, HP, Google, Oracle, Accenture, Facebook, Deloitte, Ernst & Young and Dell to name a few.
“More multinationals are coming in and the Government is working with them and others to help secure business and therefore more conventions for the city.
“Although processes may be slow at times to secure projects, the solutions do eventually materialise. And, ultimately, it is results that the organiser looks at. The key to everything is timely communication, something every organiser appreciates and something our team in Hyderabad takes pride in.”
Khan is clearly proud of blazing the CVB trail in the world’s largest democracy and hopes more bureaus will eventually follow nationwide.
“The HCVB would encourage other regional tourism boards to adopt the public/private partnership model and espouses a holistic city approach to marketing meetings services.
The founders of the bureau, a Holy Trinity of HICC, the Hyderabad Airport and State Government, Khan says, sold the concept of the bureau to the private sector. “The State Government did not want to do it themselves, as it could have turned into just another Government department,” he notes.
“In turn, the hoteliers and major PCOs believed in the concept and the State Government matched the funding of the private sector.”
Khan has now commissioned the Indian School of Business to do a study, this time on the economic impact of meetings and events and their multiplier effect on the city, the state and the nation. He expects to share the results in the New Year. Meanwhile, Hyderabad is preparing to host the 2,000-delegate 11th World Metropolis Congress in October 2014.
Looking ahead, Khan picks out the need for a strong training programme for meetings industry professionals.
Khan’s bureau currently has five staff and some associates in Europe. The HCVB is a founding member of the Global Science Convention Alliance, along with Toulouse, Daejeon and Adelaide.
India is always a big draw for visitors, but those delegates wishing to extend their stay in Hyderabad could consider five of Gary Khan’s picks to see in the 400-year old city.
- Golkonda Fort and the Qutb
- Shahi Tombs
- Chowmahallah Palace
- Charminar
- Salar Jung Museum
- Ramoji Film City.
This was first published in issue 74 of CMW. Any comments? Email cmw@mashmedia.net
