MAY 2025 | REAL ESTATE SUMMIT
SPEAKING ENGAGEMENT
TROY GILLHAM JOINS REAL ESTATE SUMMIT PANEL ON TOURISM, REAL ESTATE, AND ENTERTAINMENT INVESTMENT
Warrior Group's CEO contributes a construction and development perspective to one of the region's leading real estate forums.
Troy Gillham, CEO and Founder of Warrior Group, participated in the Real Estate Summit in May 2025, joining on “Tourism, Real Estate, and Entertainment: The Perfect Investment Mix”, alongside senior figures from across the region’s development, investment, and advisory sectors.
The panel examined one of the most actively debated questions in the GCC real estate market: whether the convergence of tourism destinations, residential real estate, and entertainment infrastructure creates a genuinely differentiated asset class, or whether the economics of mixed-use experiential development are more complicated than the headline projects suggest. With Saudi Arabia’s giga-projects, Abu Dhabi’s cultural destinations, and Dubai’s entertainment pipeline all generating significant investor interest, the panel had no shortage of live examples to work with.
Troy Gillham’s contribution came from the delivery side – the construction, project management, and adventure infrastructure expertise that translates investment theses into built destinations. Warrior Group’s portfolio sits directly at the intersection the panel was discussing AlUla Adventure Hub, LuxeGlamp, and Fujairah Adventure Park are all examples of projects where tourism experience, leisure infrastructure, and in some cases residential or hospitality amenity are designed and built together as a single investment proposition.
The panel addressed the gap between how mixed-use experiential assets are valued at inception and how they perform operationally once built. Troy Gillham’s perspective shaped by the group’s experience not just building but operating adventure and leisure facilities, brought a grounded commercial dimension to a discussion that can tend toward the aspirational. The group runs the attractions it builds, which means it understands throughput, safety cost, maintenance cycles, and guest retention in a way that a contractor without operational responsibilities does not.
The Real Estate Summit brings together developers, investors, and operators to examine how the region’s built environment is evolving, with increasing focus on integrated, experience-led developments.
