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Art is a leveller - education, age, money, gender, faith are irrelevant - shared tastes and appreciation of art transcend these divisions.

The Arts Debate, Arts Council England 2007

Jargon Buster

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Percentage capacity and percentage occupancy

What does this mean?

A measure of the extent to which a facility’s accommodation has (or is) being used, expressed as a percentage of the total accommodation available.

Percentage capacity should be thought of as the potential level of accommodation use that could be achieved. Percentage occupancy relates to the use of the accommodation that has actually been achieved.

How did we get this definition?

The definitions section of this text makes an important distinction between potential ‘capacity’ and potential ‘occupancy’. These are both measures of the extent to which a facility’s accommodation has been (or is being) used, expressed as a percentage of the total accommodation available.

But percentage capacity should be thought of as the potential level of accommodation use that could be achieved. Percentage occupancy relates to the actual use of the accommodation that has actually been achieved. It might also prove desirable for ticketed facilities to subdivide the analysis of occupancy into ‘paid-for occupancy’ and ‘unpaid occupancy’.

Related and similar definitions

The formulae to use here are as follows.

Calculating percentage capacity:

(Number of places that it is hoped will be used ÷ Total number of places available for use) × 100

Calculating percentage occupancy:

(Number of places used ÷ Total number of places available for use) × 100

Calculating percentage paid occupancy:

(Number of places used for which money was received ÷ Total number of places available for use) × 100

And calculating unpaid occupancy:

(Number of places used for which no money was received ÷ Total number of places available to use) × 100.