The Orient Express is plotting a comeback as the ultra-rich ditch luxury brands for travel
Courtesy of Orient Express Italy
- The Orient Express is preparing for its first launch in decades — a luxury sleeper train in Italy.
- Dubbed La Dolce Vita, the new Orient Express trains will start operating in Spring 2025.
- The revival comes as rich and aspirational consumers prioritize luxury travel over goods.
There's an old saying that goes, one person's loss is another's gain — and the same can be said for industries.
As luxury brands struggle amid a downturn fueled by dwindling demand in regions like China, another luxury sector is thriving: travel.
Brought to a standstill during the COVID-19 pandemic, as demand for luxury brands was nearing an all-time high, luxury travel is on the up and up as wealthy and aspirational consumers prioritize experiences over goods.
The good times are expected to continue as McKinsey & Company analysis estimates that global spending on luxury leisure hospitality will grow to $391 billion in 2028, a 10% jump from 2023.
"People are going overseas, and much more experiences are open to them," Amrita Banta, managing director of luxury insights firm Agility Research & Strategy, told Business Insider. Ultra-high-net-worth Chinese consumers have also caught the travel bug, she said, and are increasingly spending in other countries like Singapore, Thailand, and Japan.
Travel agent Julia Carter, founder of the luxury travel agency Craft Travel, said unique experiences are higher on the priority list of wealthy vacationers than ever.
"People want things that are curated to them," Carter said. "They don't want cookie-cutter experiences, they don't want to go somewhere where everything feels like it could be AI-generated."
This shift in consumer spending habits may be hurting luxury brands, but it's a means for the Orient Express, a once-defunct train service, to stage a comeback.
Back from the dead
Launched 140 years ago by Belgian engineer Georges Nagelmackers, the Orient Express was a luxury sleeper that, at its peak, had trains running from Paris to Istanbul.
The brand became so embedded in popular culture that it inspired Agatha Christie novels and, in recent years, Hollywood movies starring Dame Judi Dench and Kenneth Branagh.
As the draw of slow train travel gave way to speedier options like planes and high-speed railways, Orient Express's golden era ended. It made its last direct trip between Paris and Istanbul in 1977 before a brief revival with pared-back service in the early 1980s.
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That was pretty much the end of the line for the Orient Express — until now.
In partnership with Italian luxury hospitality group Arsenale, the Orient Express is poised for a comeback, opening two new hotels in Italy and six brand-new luxury sleeper trains dubbed La Dolce Vita.
From spring 2025, La Dolce Vita trains, which accommodate up to 62 passengers in deluxe and suite cabins, will run across 10,000 miles of track around 14 regions of Italy, including Sicily.
Ticket prices start at 3,500 euros ($3,800) for a one-night itinerary in a deluxe cabin.
The luxury of exclusivity
The timing couldn't be more aligned with consumers prioritizing travel experiences over luxury goods and with the rise of what Samy Ghachem, general manager of La Dolce Vita, calls the "slow cruising" experiential travel trend.
"You saw a big uptick as soon as COVID was over, Japan exploded, and people were like, 'OK, now let's step out of our comfort zone. Let's go to Asia, let's go to Africa, let's start to do things,'" Ghachem said, adding that tapping into that curiosity and desire to slow down is what La Dolce Vita encapsulates.
Courtesy of Orient Express Italy
Unlike cruise travel, luxury train travel is also more exclusive, another top priority among wealthy travelers.
"People want the luxury of space and privacy," Craft, the luxury travel agent, said. "They don't want to be forced into lines and queues and having to take pictures with thousands of people around."
"When you talk about luxury cruising, you're talking about 12,000 passengers," Ghachem said. "On our trains," he added, "it's much more intimate."
While the company's short-term focus is primarily on Italy, it's also preparing to launch its first sailing superyacht in 2026 and luxury sleeper trains in other regions, including the Middle East.
If anything, the Orient Express's revival supports what Ghachem says is one of the biggest trends in luxury travel: "People want to come back from vacation with a story."