capacidad de acogida

[Jim986]

Hi. This term seems to need a different term for each context in English: "capacidad de acogida" of a hotel, tourist resort or even a city would be "accomodation capacity", for a bus, a theatre or a stadium "seating capacity", for Madrid to "acoger" the Olympic Games, "capacity to host ..." Can anybody suggest a suitable term to cover them all?

 

[Valeria Mesalina]

I don´t know if there is a word that fits all the meanings, Jim.

 

[Jim986]

Hi Valeria Mesalina. I think you are right, but thought I would try anyway. What do you think of "capacity for occupation"? The venue for the match "has a high occupation capacity/capacity for occupation" (alta capacidad de acogida), meaning not only that the stadium is big enough, but that public transport is adequate and that the affluence of visitors to the area will not have a negative impact on the environment, local community etc. Obviously we are dealing with a newish concept here. The Spanish term seems perfect to me and I was surprised at not finding an English equivalent in, for example, London's IOC questionnaire.

 

[Valeria Mesalina]

It sounds all right to me, but I´m Spanish.

So if it sounds all right to you, it´s because it´s all right!

(Reclama derechos de autor )

 

[Jim986]

Yes, well to me it is close to "occupational capacity" which is quite another kettle of fish (capacidad laboral) so it sounds a bit odd and possibly ambiguous. I have thought of "visitor assimilation capacity". Anyone else like to try?

 

[Manuel G. Rey]

En España no hay un término único.
'Capacidad de acogida' puede ser adecuado para Madrid y los Juegos Olímpicos.
Para un teatro o un estadio, es 'aforo'.
Para un hotel, 'capacidad de alojamiento'.
Para un vehículo, 'número de pasajeros' o 'número de plazas'.

 

[Jim986]

Nice point Manuel, and you are right, of course but it doesn't exactly help with my terminolgy problem. How would you say "capacidad de acogida" in English?

 

[aztlaniano]

Vistor reception capacity.
Capacity for receiving vistors.

 

[Jim986]

Thanks aztlaniano. Nice to cross paths with you here again. I like your options. Cheers ... Jim

 

[Manuel G. Rey]

Nice point Manuel, and you are right, of course but it doesn't exactly help with my terminolgy problem. How would you say "capacidad de acogida" in English?

Sorry; I thought that you were looking for an only term in Spanish.
I doubt that there is an English term that may include so different Spanish concepts.

 

[speedier]

Hi Jim,

Why not just "capacity"? http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/capacity

In my opinion that single word covers adequately all the items you discussed: hotel capacity, tourist resort capacity, vehicle capacity, theatre capacity, stadium capacity, host city capacity.

What do you think?

 

[jsanmartin]

WOuld "apness" be a possible option?

 

[Jim986]

speedier: nice one, but I think it's too wide this time, also including (according to the context) military, industrial, etc. capacities or even my capacity to assimilate St. Emilión. No, the term has to refer specifically to the capacity of a city/region/country to welcome, accomodate and provide services to visitors without causing environmental or social impact, especially those visits provoked by a major EVENT (read: Football World Cup, Olympic Games, etc).

 

[Manuel G. Rey]

speedier: nice one, but I think it's too wide this time, also including (according to the context) military, industrial, etc. capacities or even my capacity to assimilate St. Emilión. No, the term has to refer specifically to the capacity of a city/region/country to welcome, accomodate and provide services to visitors without causing environmental or social impact, especially those visits provoked by a major EVENT (read: Football World Cup, Olympic Games, etc).

If you speak only of a city or country, 'accomodation capacity' may be the equivalent to the Spanish 'capacidad de acogida'.

 

[speedier]

Sorry Jim. I can't find a term to fulfill all your requirements which also has a significant number of Google hits.

Apart from the ideas already mentioned, hospitality doesn't quite work, as it is mainly related to hotel services, and although "hosting ability/capacity/capability) could work, and it has lots of hits, most of them are related to the web hosting service industry, which has more or less hijacked the term.

 

[aztlaniano]

Would "aptness" be a possible option?

Un sinónimo es "suitability".
Imagino que Jim querría matizarlo un poco, como "aptness for hosting a major international event".

 

[Jim986]

Thank you all very much - valeria, manuel, aztlaniano, speedier jsmartin - an impressive array of skill, determination and goodwill. The translation I am working on is about Madrid's ill-starred Olympic bid, and I have finally settled on two terms: "accomodation capacity" where the question is more the number of hotel rooms available, and "visitor reception capacity" where wider concerns are involved, especially environmental ones which are a major issue. However, "aptness"...yes, I will have to stick it into the text and see how it sounds. "Hosting" is used in another sense (after the Candidate City phase we would have had the Host City phase, but now Río de Janeiro will be hosting the games) so that one is ruled out to avoid confusion.

 

[turi]

For a hotel, I think it is "sleeping capacity", or "no. of beds"

 

[lukeclegg]

Agreed, it is no. of beds :]