• The Orient Express, a luxury sleeper train in Italy, is preparing for its first voyage in decades.
• The new Orient Express trains, called La Dolce Vita, will enter service in Spring 2025.
• This resurgence comes as wealthy and avid consumers prioritize luxury travel over goods.

There is an old saying: One man’s loss is another man’s gain, and the same can be said for industries.

Like luxury brands In a downturn fueled by declining demand in regions like China, another luxury sector is thriving: travel.

Coming to a halt during the COVID-19 pandemic, as demand for luxury brands approaches an all-time high luxury travel This is increasingly the case as affluent and avid consumers prioritize experiences over goods.

The good times are expected to continue, as McKinsey & Company analysis predicts global spending on luxury vacation accommodation will rise 10% from 2023 to $391 billion in 2028.

“People are going abroad and a lot 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 are also caught up in the travel bug and are increasingly spending in Singapore, Thailand and other countries, he said. Japan.

Travel agent Julia Carter, founder of luxury travel agency Craft Travel, said unique experiences are higher than ever on affluent holidaymakers’ priority list.

“People want things tailored to them,” Carter said. “They don’t want cliche experiences, they don’t want to go to a place where everything feels like it’s AI-generated.”

This shift in consumer spending habits may be hurting luxury brandsbut it’s a tool Eastern ExpressA once disused train service is about to make a comeback.

We came back from the dead

Launched 140 years ago by Belgian engineer Georges Nagelmackers, the Orient Express was a luxury sleeper train that served as trains from Paris to Istanbul in its heyday.

The brand has become so integrated into popular culture that it has inspired Agatha Christie novels and, in recent years, Hollywood movies starring Dame Judi Dench and Kenneth Branagh.

The golden age of the Eastern Express ended as slow train travel was replaced by faster options such as planes and high-speed trains. It made its last direct journey between Paris and Istanbul in 1977, before a brief revival with partial service in the early 1980s.

This was pretty much the end of the road for the Eastern Express so far.

Partnering with Italian luxury accommodation group Arsenale, Orient Express is preparing to make a comeback in Italy by opening two new hotels and six new luxury sleeper trains called La Dolce Vita.

From spring 2025, La Dolce Vita trains, which can accommodate up to 62 passengers in luxury and suite cabins, will operate on approximately 10,000 miles of line in 14 regions of Italy, including Sicily.

Ticket prices start from 3,500 euros ($3,800) for a one-night itinerary in a luxury cabin.

The luxury of being privileged

The timing couldn’t be more in line with consumers prioritizing travel experiences over luxury goods and the rise of the experiential travel trend, which Samy Ghachem, general manager of La Dolce Vita, calls “slow travel.”

“As soon as COVID ended, you saw a huge surge, Japan exploded, and people said, ‘Okay, now let’s get out of our comfort zone. Let’s go to Asia, let’s go to Africa, let’s start doing things.'” ” said Ghachem, adding that what La Dolce Vita summarizes is to benefit from this curiosity and desire to slow down.

Unlike cruise travel, luxury train travel is also more exclusive and is another priority among wealthy travelers.

“People want the luxury of space and privacy,” said luxury travel agent Craft. “They don’t want to have to stand in lines and queues and take pictures with thousands of people around.”

“When you’re talking about luxury travel, 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 is preparing to launch its first sailing superyacht in 2026 and launch its luxury sleeper trains in other regions, including the Middle East.

The revival of the Orient Express supports what Ghachem says is one of the biggest trends in luxury travel: “People want to come back from holidays with a story.”