The ‘January slump’ – a Swiss invention

January slump: Waiting for February. Keystone/AP Photo/Sergei Grits

It is the familiar feeling after the festive season: Advent and Christmas are over, the celebrations have passed, wallets feel lighter and energy levels are low. Welcome to the “January slump”.

The expression, which today primarily refers to a monetary and mood-related low after Christmas, originally comes from the Alpine tourism industry: between Christmas business and the sports holidays, many winter sports resorts remained empty – hotels and restaurants were poorly utilised in January and the tourism industry lacked income.

No room for idling: the tourism industry has come up with some ideas to combat the slowdown in January. Imago/imagebroker

Roots in winter tourism

It is no longer possible to identify who first coined the term. What is clear is that it appeared in Swiss newspapers and magazines from the late 1940s onwards. On February 23, 1951, for example, the Neue Zürcher Zeitung  (NZZ) wrote: “The slump after the holidays is one of the usual phenomena of the winter sports hotel industry, but it has become all the more noticeable as this so-called January slump has been extending increasingly over the entire month for several years.”

The term was soon applied beyond tourism. By the 1950s, it was also being used to describe strained household finances after Christmas spending, and the associated drop in consumption in January.

Imagine there is snow on the ground and hardly anyone is there. St. Moritz in 1955. Getty Images/bettmann

However, there has never been consensus on whether such a slump in consumer spending actually exists. In January 1973, financial columnist Carl M. Holliger – writing under the pseudonym “Mr. Money” in Schweizer Illustrierte – described the January slump as a “mythical creature”. While spending in January was lower than in December, he argued, it was not significantly below the annual average.

From the Swiss magazine Schweizer Illustrierte, 22 January 1973. Schweizerische Mediendatenbank

Despite such scepticism, Swiss media continued to refer to a January slump in the consumer goods sector well into the 21st century. This persistence may say as much about journalism as about economics: like the summer lull, early January is often a quiet period for politics and events, making the January slump a convenient topic.

A concept that has lost its economic meaning

Outside Switzerland, the term has gained limited traction. In Austria, a similar expression exists – Jännerloch – mainly in connection with winter tourism. Elsewhere, the concept is largely unknown.

Pickle season in Germany

Instead of the “January slump”, in Germany we tend to talk about the “pickle season”, when – regardless of the time of year – there is not much going on politically, culturally and, above all, in business.

In the past, “Sauregurkenzeit” meant a time when there was not much or not many different things to eat.

However, the expression probably has nothing to do with pickled cucumbers. Instead, it is probably a corruption of the Yiddish expression “Zóres- und Jókresszeit”, which translates as “time of hardship and dearth”.

In Swiss tourism, at least, the January slump is now a thing of the past. Revenues and overnight stays in January have long exceeded those of December. Resort operators now deliberately programme events and offers in January to attract guests between the festive season and the school holidays.

As a result, the January slump has largely shifted from economics to psychology. Today, it is mainly used to describe a post-holiday dip in mood after the intensity of Advent and Christmas. And for that, the tourism industry is ready – with relaxation and wellness packages in calm Alpine surroundings.

Translated using AI/amva

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