Gábor Galla graduated from the College of Hotel, Catering and Tourism in 1974, and obtained his doctorate at the Budapest University of Economics in 1981. During his studies he spent a year in Tanzania, where he was deputy general manager at Hallways Hotels Overseas Ltd. He has 30 years of experience in the tourism business.

He started his career in Hotel Budapest Hilton as night manager and receptionist. In 1982 he became the director of sales and marketing at Grand & Thermal Hotel Margitsziget, where he participated in building up a starting hotel. On the successful achievement of the start-up he was offered the post of general manager at Thermal Hotel Helia in 1988. He was responsible for the organization of the pre-opening processes (planning and development) of the hotel, which under his management became one of the leading hotels in Budapest. In 1997 he was appointed senior vice-president of HungarHotels Rt., and later deputy CEO (in charge of sales and marketing) of Danubius Hotels, the largest hotel chain in the region.

In 2002 he was appointed director general of the Hungarian National Tourist Office. Serving a record of more than four years, he enhanced the company's acceptance in the travel trade by introducing thorough changes to increase efficiency. His success was marked by milestones such as the renewal of Hungary's identity, the strengthening of the brand Hungary, and the deployment of a complex planning and monitoring system supervising the daily operation of the whole network. His international acceptance is highlighted by his election to the board of the European Travel Commission.

He started working for Tourconsult Kft. in December 2006 as general manager, specializing in tourism strategy and hotel management.

Gábor Galla is the president of HSMAI Hungary.

He speaks fluent English, good German, basic French and Russian.