Damien Latham serves as the chief attractions officer at Saudi Entertainment Ventures (Seven), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF). The company is investing SAR 50 billion ($13bn) in the development of 21 entertainment destinations across 14 cities in the kingdom. The new projects are located in Riyadh, Kharj, Makkah, Jeddah, Taif, Dammam, Khobar, Al Ahsa, Al-Madinah, Yanbu, Abha, Jazan, Buraidah, and Tabuk.
“Compared with the five giga-projects, like Qiddiya and the Red Sea Project, we are far more local,” Latham told blooloop. “We are not tourism driven; we are for the people. So, we are making sure that everything that we do is going to be for the everyday population of the kingdom. In this, we are a key part of that overarching 2030 vision and strategy, to make sure that every element of what the Kingdom set out to achieve in that vision is being covered.”
Latham has worked in the attractions business for his entire career, starting as a lifeguard at Center Parcs. When he left the company 13 years later, he had worked his way up to the role of leisure manager. Latham went on to work for Dubai-based Majid Al Futtaim for nearly 10 years, eventually becoming the group’s CEO of leisure and entertainment. After this, he worked as CEO of Emaar Entertainment, before moving to Seven in 2019.
“The evolution in terms of where we were in 2019 to where we are today has been huge, both in terms of our budgetary expectations, but also our underlying ambition,” Latham said.