They’re calling it ‘dark tourism’ – it’s supernaturally

Tim Drake ‘Spooky’ sites are big business, says Malcolm Roughead

ONE workplace, three generations, and a world of difference between them. As most organisations know, that’s the state of play in our workforce today. But new research shows how differences across the generations are defining leadership styles and, more importantly, shaping the leaders of the future.

The Great Generational Shift – a report from our R&D team that analysed 28,000 psychometric tests – documents the shifting dynamics in Britain’s multigeneration workplaces, where 60-year-old baby boomers work alongside Generation X-ers in their forties and the twentysomethings of Generation Y.

It paints a striking picture of the Generation Y professional, with women in this group (those aged 20 – 34) really coming to the fore.

Gen Y women top the charts when it comes to being socially confident, helpful, organised and meticulous, compared to their male counterparts.

Far removed from “traditional” leadership skills (persuasion, confidence, extroversion), they bring a completely different, and more relevant, set of skills to the business environment of today – and tomorrow. Skills that will help them navigate a data-driven future, where leaders will be required to sift through mounds of information and translate it into meaningful insights.

Compared to baby boomer males who currently dominate leadership positions in the workplace, Generation Y women score higher in many areas, including ambition and social confidence. With their chart-leading altruism and optimism, and their progressive people skills, these women will lead by laying out a vision and welcoming those who want to take part.

These research findings demonstrate a change in the nature of leadership, with younger females ideally positioned to excel in the leadership race of tomorrow.

Eighty per cent of executive directors on the boards of the FTSE 100 may currently be male, but the findings of this research show that, as business practice continues to evolve and progress, Generation Y women are better placed than ever before to position themselves at the top of businesses over the next decade. l TimDrakeisheadoftalent managementatHudsonUK

WITH its atmospheric landscape and abundance of haunted castles, peculiar superstitions and occasionally morbid history, it’s not surprising that Halloween first took root in Scotland. Halloween takes its name from All Hallows’ Eve, the night before the Christian festival of All Hallows or All Saints Day. But it’s possible to trace its beginnings back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain or Samhuinn, held on 1 November, which marked the culmination of summer and the harvest period with the onset of winter. Robert Burns’ 1785 poem Halloween details many of the national customs and legends surrounding the festival, many of them pagan in origin, which had persisted even with the advent of Christianity. One of the most enduring of these was the Celtic belief that it marked a time when the boundary between the living and the spirit worlds was at its most tenuous, and that the ghosts of dead, including supernatural beings such as witches and warlocks, would be able to walk the earth for this one night of the year.

However, it is not just at Halloween that visitors seek to explore the unexplained and the unimaginable in Scotland. “Dark tourism” is a phenomenon newly coined by academic expert and researcher John Lennon from Glasgow Caledonian University. Defined as “tourism involving travel to sites historically associated with death and tragedy”, it seems the main draw to dark locations is their historical value rather than their direct associations with loss and suffering.

As John explains: “Dark tourism is all about the fascination we have with the dark side of human nature, our ability to do evil and witness the evidence of horror which has a long been a proven draw in literature, film and all forms of media. Such sites have proven appeal to visitors and locals alike.

Of course Halloween is a proven visitor pull factor, but the task here is to extend the Halloween festivities from one night only and capitalise on the appeal that our authentic heritage sites, events and attractions can offer.”

It seems the appetite for dark tourism is strong, with visitors flocking to notably “spooky” attractions in Scotland to discover the “things that go bump in the night” from ghostly pipers to grey, green and white ladies; haunting monks to phantom trumpeters.

In 2013, domestic visitors who visited historic houses generated 563,000 trips, and spent £233 million, and those who visited historic castles generated a staggering 1,030,000 trips, and a spend of £423m.

The country’s capital seems to hold the biggest draw for those with a darker frame of