Manfredi Lefebvre d’Ovidio, ultra-luxury across the world’s seas

The Italian-born businessman has dedicated his life and career to the high-end tourism sector, helping to transform it profoundly at the helm of some of the world’s most exclusive companies.

A Monegasque resident for over two decades, Manfredi Lefebvre d’Ovidio also contributes to the Principality’s international reputation, whether through his presidency of the World Travel and Tourism Council or by hosting SBM casinos on his ships. This is the story of a tireless traveller.

“Nothing should stand between you and the authentic beauty of the world” – and few destinations on the planet can, like Rome, claim to fulfil such an ideal. It is no coincidence that the Italian capital hosted, from 28 to 30 September, the 25th World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) summit to welcome the man behind this aphorism as its new president: Manfredi Lefebvre d’Ovidio. For the Executive Chairman of the Heritage Group and co-chairman of Abercrombie & Kent, it marks the culmination of a life entirely devoted to promoting tourism, cruising and leisure in all its forms – luxury, if not ultra-luxury.

Hailing the “powerful force” represented by Manfredi Lefebvre d’Ovidio at the head of a tourism sector that accounts for 10% of global GDP and generates 320 million jobs worldwide, the WTTC director said that the businessman would lead the organisation towards “unprecedented success.” Indeed, the Monegasque resident knows all about success, having transformed the family group Silversea Cruises into a world leader in maritime luxury. His appointment also comes at a pivotal moment in the history of the global tourism industry, further strengthening Monaco’s place in the highly strategic sector.

A family destiny closely tied to the oceans

For the Italian billionaire, taking over the presidency of the WTTC represents the ultimate crowning achievement. Born in Rome on 30 April 1953, Manfredi is the son of Antonio Lefebvre d’Ovidio, an Italian maritime law specialist, and Eugenia Beck, from a German family. From a young age, he developed a passion for sailing: he was only six when he stepped on board a ship for the first time, and fourteen when he took his first cruise, from Los Angeles along the Mexican coast. “I’ve always been attracted to the marine industry and the travel business. I believe it’s in my DNA,” he told Business Jet Traveler (BJT) in 2019: “My family has invested in ships since 1840. My father was among a select group who wrote the marine law of Italy, which is still in use,” he recalled with pride.

Deeply rooted in his family heritage, the lure of the oceans never left Manfredi. After giving up his law studies, he joined the family business where, under his father’s guidance, he supervised maritime operations and cruise projects. In 1994, father and son founded Silversea Cruises. As he told BJT, Manfredi remembers that his father “wanted to create an ultra-luxury cruise line with a global reach, offering a bespoke experience aboard all-suite ships with all-inclusive pricing. Once guests step on board, almost all amenities are complimentary.”

Initially operating just two ships – the Silver Cloud and the Silver Wind, later joined by the Silver Whisper and Silver Shadow – Silversea gradually established itself as a global reference for high-end cruising. In 2001, ten years before the death of his father Antonio, Manfredi Lefebvre d’Ovidio took over management – and full ownership – of Silversea. His rise within the family business left a lasting mark: twenty years later, Manfredi’s brother Francesco was still contesting the ownership structure in court – unsuccessfully.

But nothing would make the seasoned seafarer lose his course. As head of Silversea Cruises, Manfredi Lefebvre d’Ovidio expanded the company’s fleet and geographical reach. In 2017, Silversea’s fleet counted nine ships serving 850 ports on all seven continents – including some of the most remote places on Earth. Refined over the years, Manfredi’s vision made his company one of the most recognised in its market sector, amassing awards from specialist magazines such as Condé Nast Traveler and Travel + Leisure.

A bold but controversial diversification

2018 marked a turning point in the businessman’s career. That year, Manfredi sold two-thirds of his shares in Silversea Cruises to Royal Caribbean. The deal, in cash and stock (Lefebvre d’Ovidio acquired 2.5% of Royal Caribbean), was worth more than a billion dollars. He instantly entered the prestigious Forbes billionaires list – where he currently ranks 1,841st, with an estimated personal fortune of $2.1 billion. The prelude to a well-earned golden retirement? Far from it…

When BJT asked, “why did you decide to sell the majority stake?” in Silversea, Manfredi replied: “to build ships, to grow faster (…). We’re victims of our success because there’s a rush to build new ships, which cost a lot of money (…) It’s difficult to be as efficient competing alone as you can be within a partnership.” As philosophical as he is strategic, Lefebvre added that “Silversea has to establish a way forward beyond me because I am not eternal,” before making clear he had no plans “to retire and play golf.”

Now at the helm of the family group Heritage Group, Manfredi Lefebvre d’Ovidio is far from having stowed away his ambitions. As head of his holding company, the billionaire multiplies investments in tourism, new technologies, renewable energy, real estate and even biotechnology. His diversification is as bold as it is, at times, controversial: in 2024, an article on the site Glitz was titled “Manfredi Lefebvre d’Ovidio changes tack towards ultra-luxury travel with Saudi support.” The move raises questions, not least regarding dependence on Gulf capital and governance balance.

Controversy is nothing new for Manfredi, having been immersed in it from childhood. His father, Antonio, was involved in several affairs and was convicted in 1979 for corruption in the Lockheed scandal. Manfredi, of course, had nothing to do with it, but the uncomfortable legal legacy is regularly mentioned in biographies devoted to his life. On another level – a strictly economic one – Lefebvre d’Ovidio works in a cruise sector subject to naturally unstable waters: whether due to financial crises (such as in 2008) or pandemics such as Covid, storms are never far off. Finally, the repositioning towards ultra-luxury risks alienating part of its historic clientele.

The strategic shift, however, seems fully embraced by the man himself. Less than a year after leaving Silversea, Manfredi Lefebvre d’Ovidio acquired 85% of the American luxury travel company Abercrombie & Kent (A&K) for an undisclosed sum, becoming its executive chairman. And in 2022, A&K acquired Crystal Cruises and its two cruise ships; as well as Cox & Kings, the world’s oldest travel company; and Ecoventura, which operates its own fleet off the Galapagos Islands. There’s still no retirement in sight for the tireless workaholic, who told BJT in 2019 that he had “loved every single working day of (his) life” and that he still experiences “an intense sense of adventure whenever (he steps) aboard a ship.”

A Monegasque resident involved in the Principality’s maritime life

Is it any surprise, then, that this sailor at heart chose the Principality, bordered by the Mediterranean, as his final home port? Manfredi has revealed that he has lived in Monaco for 25 years now, where Silversea’s headquarters are located. Deeply committed to local life, the businessman holds several institutional positions. He is vice-president of the Monegasque Chamber of Shipping, vice-president of the executive committee of the Monaco Hydrogen Alliance, honorary consul of Ecuador in the Principality, a member of the Monte-Carlo Country Club and, of course, a member of the Yacht Club de Monaco. Demonstrating his integration in Monegasque society, Manfredi has also been made a Knight of the Order of Saint-Charles and of the Order of Grimaldi.

His active involvement in Monegasque life also extends… to the water. In 2024, the Société des Bains de Mer (SBM) launched its first “off-site” casino, inside the Crystal Symphony, one of the ships in the Crystal Cruises fleet owned by Manfredi Lefebvre d’Ovidio. It represented “a symbolically powerful act for us,” said Stéphane Valeri, deputy chairman of the SBM, and a “desire to open up to new markets.” A second SBM-operated casino was expected to open on board the Crystal Serenity at the end of 2024 and, in time, all of Manfredi Lefebvre’s ships are set to offer their wealthy clientele a taste of the unique Monegasque thrill. After all, as the man himself said, “we’re not luxury, we’re exceptional.”

A lifelong sense of wonder

A passionate art collector, keen music lover and avid reader who always has several books on the go, Manfredi has made Monaco – like many global businesspeople – a platform from which he runs his affairs while tirelessly travelling the planet in search of new deals and new destinations. “Money,” he told The Business Method podcast, is not an end in itself but “an instrument of freedom.” It’s a freedom he may pass on to his only child and heir, his daughter Costanza, who today oversees communication and international affairs for the Heritage Group.

“It’s difficult to say with a 19-year-old girl,” he told BJT six years ago: “My decision was easy because I loved to be a continuation of my father. We’ll see what my daughter would like to do.” One thing is certain, however: he will pass on his love of travel and discovery. And Manfredi readily acknowledges that, at 72, he is “always amazed by the limitless beauty of the planet—its variety and the proliferation of life that inhabits each environment. Traveling offers a way to experience these things, enriching oneself in the process.”