Activity Report
2024
We have the great pleasure to introduce the Economic Promotion Valais’ activity report for 2024. Once again, the economy of Valais proved its remarkable capacity of adaptation towards challenges and opportunities. Despite a complex international context and striking climatic events, it noted a growth superior to that of other cantons.
This rise comes from the strong commitment of the canton and from the great resilience of our enterprises, that knew how to adapt and innovate. These results are more than promising and prove the dynamism and solidity of the economic fabric of Valais.
Loyal to its evolutive approach, Economic Promotion Valais proposes this year its report in a dynamic, online only form, in harmony with the new visual shift taken by our entity. This page highlights the principal activities led by Economic Promotion Valais to economically develop our canton.
We hope you will find this report insightful!
Table of contents
Table des matières
Key Numbers
2.4%
GDP growth in Valais
203
Support to enterprises in Valais
131
Number of enterprises that benefited from support to innovation
CHF 193 Million
Financial investment for companies
CHF 28.3 Million
Total investment for ski lifts
Editorials
Christophe Darbellay
Our canton has maintained its dynamism in a sometimes challenging environment.
Eric Bianco
The year 2024 once again demonstrated the resilience, performance and innovation of Valais companies.
Support to enterprises
Administrative support to enterprises
In Valais, any company can benefit from services of support and assistance, without costs. Thanks to its different partners, Economic Promotion Valais supports projects of enterprises, local or not. Depending on the sector of activity and on the development stage, it guides entrepreneurs towards business partners or state offices, to enable the achievement of projects of economic importance, while respecting legal requirements and environmental norms.
Economic Promotion Valais is the key-partner for entrepreneurs looking to innovate, develop or invest themselves in the regional economic fabric.
Support to enterprises in Valais
203
Support to enterprises outside of Valais
53
Support to events
Culture
Sports
Music
Through the Office of economy, tourism and innovation, the canton of Valais supports several cultural, sporting and musical events in Valais. Organised all over the territory, these events not only allow to develop and support the economy, but they also convey a positive image of the region, to locals and on a more international stage.
In 2024, a financial support of CHF 2.28 million has been granted to 45 events and led to economic benefits reaching CHF 35.9 million.
Number of
events supported
45
Total amount of
the given support
CHF 2.28 Million
Economic benefits
for the canton
CHF 35.9 Million
Support to mountain professions
The Office of economy, tourism and innovation also supports mountain professions. In line with its strategy of digitising customer services, the Office offers an intuitive platform that allows them to obtain authorisations to practice, compulsory to their activity. This platform, MontagnePro, has been updated in 2024 to save time and guarantee the protection of data to its users. Thanks to this platform and to the cantonal Commission for mountain guides and organisers of other high-risk activities, it is easier to ensure compliance with the law.
To this day, 2,755 authorisations have been delivered, and 127 ski schools and guide offices obtained their authorisations to manage.
Number of authorisations to practice
delivered :
2,755
Number of authorisations to manage
delivered to ski schools and guide offices :
127
Financial support to enterprises
CHF 193 Million
Support to
477 companies
CHF 36 Million
Subsidies, payment guarantees and loans
CHF 26 Million
Construction
guarantees
In 2024, the Centre de Cautionnement et de Financement (CCF) SA granted around CHF 36 million of financial assistance in the form of subsidies, payment guarantees and/or direct loans, to which CHF 26 million of issued construction guarantees are added. On Decembre 31, 2024, CCF SA had CHF 193 million in commitments, including CHF 21.3 million through Cautionnement romand, to 477 companies in Valais.
Distribution of new financial assistance granted in 2024 by sector of activity
(to 116 companies, without construction guarantees)
Support to innovation
131
SMEs supported through
The Ark Foundation
8
Announcements
of innovation
34
Number of
start-ups assisted
Fields of activity supported by Economic Promotion Valais and its partners
Daily, The Ark Foundation and CimArk SA, its operational arm, support SMEs of Valais in their search for innovation, digitisation and sustainability.
During the year, many enterprises in Valais, coming from different sectors, ask for the help of Economic Promotion Valais and its partners. The Ark and CimArk provide support in the form of coaching, co-finance innovation projects and fund expert assessments, positioning themselves as key partners for Economic Promotion Valais.
In 2024, 131 enterprises benefited from support to innovation. This concrete support, highly appreciated by entrepreneurs, demonstrates the dynamism of innovation in Valais. The range of sectors of activity of the participating enterprises proves the important diversity of projects and reflects the variety of the economy in Valais.
Digitourism
The programme Digitourism aims at reinforcing and accelerating the digital transformation of tourism enterprises. Since its launch in 2021, more than 469 tourism companies benefited from the programme and 589 projects between digital companies and tourism enterprises have been carried out through Digitourism. This support programme offers several concrete measures:
- Training programme and awareness-raising activities focused on digitisation in the tourism industry
- Personalised support by digital experts, tailored to the specific needs of enterprises
- Grant allocations of up to CHF 4,000 by tourism company and per year, to implement concrete digital measures
- Implementation of major digital projects that benefit the whole tourism sector
- Organisation of networking events between digital experts and tourism entrepreneurs
In 2025, benefiting from the growing digital maturity of tourism enterprises in Valais, Digitourism aims at reinforcing its support to interenterprise collaboration, to lead innovative digitisation projects.
Number of companies supported via Digitourism
282
144 projects supported for a total amount of
CHF 677,000
Number of
digital experts
71
Number of digital solutions in Digitourism’s catalogue
31
Regional Development
Each year, the Helvetic Confederation and the State of Valais offer fundings to boost the cantonal economy and enhance the regional attractivity.
Within the scope of the New Regional Policy (NRP), the canton of Valais and the Confederation spend each year several million francs. To each franc spent by the canton, the equivalent is also spent by the Confederation, according to the system of financial equalisation.
The canton also works alone to support the following infrastructures:
- Ski lifts, thanks to the LERM (Law on encouragement for ski lifts)
- Most of the touristic establishments
- Industrial infrastructures
Plus spécifiquement dans le domaine du tourisme, la Politique Régionale permet de maintenir une capacité d’hébergement touristique de qualité et des infrastructures sportives régionales et des remontées mécaniques performantes. En 2021, la Politique Régionale a aussi participé à la mise en œuvre du projet Valais Film Commission, dont le but est d’apporter par des soutiens de facilitations une aide technique et organisationnelle, ainsi que par une aide financière aux tournages de productions audiovisuelles en Valais. Grâce à cet outil et à la présence de compétences professionnelles du cinéma et par la richesse de ses décors naturels, le canton du Valais devient ainsi un acteur important de l’industrie
cinématographique.
Total amount spent for the regional development of Valais
(in Million francs)
Regional Policy
Established by the Confederation and the Canton, with the objective to enhance the competitivity and attractivity of the different regions of Valais, the regional Policy is a tool of financial support to companies and societies, whose aim is threefold:
- Reinforce the industrial and commercial fabric in key sectors
- Reinforce the tourism value chains
- Create, develop and reinforce added value in the creative economy.
Joint investments of the Confederation and the Canton:
CHF 2.6 Million
Investments for tourism
infrastructures
CHF 13.5 Million
Investments
for ski lifts
CHF 1.9 Million
Valais Film
Commission’s Budget
2024 was the first year of establishment of the implementation program (PMO) of the regional Policy. For the period 2024-2027, the PMO seeks to economically develop the region, keeping in mind the analysis results of its past experiences. While already widely applied at the cantonal scale, transversal themes of digitisation, sustainability and local economy have been written in plain English in the actual PMO.
CHF 23 Million
Non-refundable investment for 2024-2027
CHF 82 Million
Fundings in form of loans for 2024-2027
Plus spécifiquement dans le domaine du tourisme, la Politique Régionale permet de maintenir une capacité d’hébergement touristique de qualité et des infrastructures sportives régionales et des remontées mécaniques performantes. En 2021, la Politique Régionale a aussi participé à la mise en œuvre du projet Valais Film Commission, dont le but est d’apporter par des soutiens de facilitations une aide technique et organisationnelle, ainsi que par une aide financière aux tournages de productions audiovisuelles en Valais. Grâce à cet outil et à la présence de compétences professionnelles du cinéma et par la richesse de ses décors naturels, le canton du Valais devient ainsi un acteur important de l’industrie
cinématographique.
Creative economy
CHF 350,000
Non-refundable investment for creative economy
50
Number of PRISM projects
CHF 4.4 Million
Economic added value of the Valais Film Commission
The canton of Valais recognises the economic importance of the creative and cultural industries and seeks to develop their potential through its implementation program (PMO) 2024-2027. Sectors considered as of priority by the canton are:
Cinematographic
industry
Numeric
creation
Performing arts and
showbusiness industry
Valais Film Commission – Programme 2021-2024
Funded by the NRP and by the Cultural events promotion fund (Culture and Tourism Fund), the Valais Film Commission is really active since 2022, following its public announcement at the Locarno Film Festival.
Through its activities, the Valais Film Commission pursues the following objectives:
- Generate added economic activity, particularly off-season
- Benefit from the positive impact in terms of image that favours the tourism sector
- Offer local professionals in the cinematographic field the opportunity to enhance their technical competencies by collaborating on these films.
Convinced by the working model of the Valais Film Commission, the NRP and the Cultural events promotion fund decided to retain it. For the 2025-2028 period, the budget allocated to the VFC will be of CHF 3 million.
2024
Budget
CHF 1.9
Million
Number of movie
projects supported
15
Number of
demands for support
178
Invested
amount
CHF 1.9
Million
Economic
added value
CHF 4.4
Million
PRISM
Launched in 2024 by the regional Policy, the canton of Valais, the Office of culture, Culture Valais and CimArk SA, PRISM is the Programme of networking, innovation and support to creative industries, that aims at stimulating, supporting and reinforcing the development of creative and cultural industries in Valais. This programme is based on three main pillars:
- The sensibilisation to the existence of cultural and creative industries, by call for projects, thematic days and meetings
- The support to these industries through personalised coaching and networking with specialists and experts of the domain
- The growth of project deployment and the facilitation of intersectoral collaborations.
Number of projects
and entrepreneurs
50
Financial support
of the regional Policy
CHF 298,000
Community
Prix Créateurs BCVS
The Prix Créateurs BCVS is an event organised jointly by Economic Promotion Valais and the Cantonal Bank of Valais (BCVs) to promote entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial creativity in Valais.
valais4you
The image of our canton abroad is often summed up to its attractiveness to tourists and to its low economic potential. This programme therefore aims to highlight the potential of our region and its industrial and technological know-how.
Valais Film Commission
The Valais Film Commission is a structure linked to the canton’s Departments of Culture and Economy. It welcomes, accompanies and supports audiovisual productions on its territory, favoring a balanced approach between its cultural and economic interests.
Event Entrepreneurs
Every year, Economic Promotion Valais organises an invitation-only event for the canton’s economic players. The aim? To unite Valais companies around topical issues that affect them concretely, and reflect on them to find pragmatic solutions.
Our partners
