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Meet Christophe Maret
President of the municipality of Val de Bagnes
In 2021, Bagnes and Vollèges merged to create the municipality of Val de Bagnes, which regroups 25 distinctive villages and hamlets, including Verbier. At the helm is Christophe Maret, who shares the municipality’s political stakes, challenges, and goals with helvet.
Spread over 302 km2, Val de Bagnes is one of the biggest municipalities in Switzerland — bigger than the cantons of Zug, Geneva, or even Schaffhouse! The municipality surrounded by stately Alpine summits, rubs shoulders with the Valais Alps from the Grand Combin (4,314 m) to Mont Fort (3,330 m), all the way to the Italian border, upstream of the Mauvoisin Dam and reservoir. It’s a vast territory that’s both spirited and unspoilt.
A 10-year masterplan
The numbers are in. Although agriculture holds an important place in the municipality, along with hydraulic energy, “tourism is the main driver of our economy,” emphasizes President Maret. This lends itself to construction and “allows us to invest in and develop other key business sectors.” The main challenge lies in keeping extensive competition in check. The power of the area — and of Verbier in particular — is its draw as a winter destination, when 70% of the area’s vacationists choose to visit. The goal is to develop the rest of the calendar year to “become a model four-season mountain destination for sustainable tourism.”
Among the biggest projects that are already approved and/or underway are: the development of biking in the area, the renovation of Verbier’s sports centre (following a large fire), cultural financing, and the construction of an earthen dam in La Chaux to guarantee Verbier’s water supply and artificial snow. The resulting reservoir will also serve as a tourist destination.
The big questions on the agenda
Environmental changes, demographic evolution, developments in digitalisation and transportation, the quality of the visitor experience, the quality of life for inhabitants, and an emphasis on the local economy… all of these factors play an important role in the overall picture, and each is studied and weighed when making decisions. Since 2021, environmentalism has become part of the municipality’s legislature with a nominated delegate for sustainable development, who’s in charge of supervising both internal and external projects. Numerous environmental measures have been adopted: the banning of pesticides along the roadways and the shifting of embankment cuttings to encourage biodiversity; the eradication of invasive species; the creation of a forest care and maintenance trust; the use of local ingredients in school meals; and the inauguration of a new sorting and recycling centre. The municipality has also contributed financially to Blue Ark (blueark.ch), a hub of innovation for water and natural resources management, including improving efficiencies across energy production and consumption. Energy has become an extremely relevant topic for the municipality, which must manage explosive growth during the winter season, when the local population swells to 50,000 people, almost five times its usual size. “We have to find ways to make it work, and we do,” said Christophe Maret.
Another major topic for the municipality is building policy. New structures, super chalets, and renovations have been a boon for the construction industry in recent years. But there’s talk of pausing some of that activity, especially in light of recent changes to the Land Use Planning Act, which aim to better ensure economical land use. A true challenge according to Christophe Maret, who says “studies predict a 20% increase in population, which corresponds to around 600 new housing units.” Security, stability, health, and services (including fiscal attractions for foreigners) are all reasons why people choose to move to Val de Bagnes, and they show no signs of slowing.
A model for the future?
The global pandemic only served to reinforce the appeal of beautifully preserved natural environments, here in Val de Bagnes more so than anywhere else. Numerous regular visitors (with high buying power) and digital nomads took the leap and made Verbier, or one of its sister sub-stations, their homebase for remote work. “It’s totally possible to work remotely from the mountains and enjoy an excellent quality of life,” adds President Maret. It’s also great for the local economy, as services for this type of resident (private banks, co-working spaces, etc) continue to thrive. The Office of Tourism is also actively promoting the municipality along these same lines and is hosting a remote working event this fall, complete with musicians, chefs, sommeliers, hoteliers and… locally made cheeses, of course!
While Switzerland accounts for the majority of visitors, Great Britain is second on the list and accounts for a full quarter of all visitors in Val de Bagnes. That is followed (far behind) by France (9%) and the Benelux Union (8%), and then by Scandinavia and North America (each of which account for 6% of visitors). By the end of 2022, visitor numbers hadn’t fully returned to their 2019 levels (which was a record year), but they are currently on track to do so for 2023.
