Phuket vs Krabi: Companies and Revenue Compared (2026)
In short
Phuket has 6.7 times as many registered companies as Krabi, 52,557 against 7,793. Krabi's average company earns far more revenue, though. The typical Krabi firm reports 14.8 million baht against 7.7 million baht in Phuket, a gap of 92 percent. Phuket ranks seventh nationally by company count but falls to 74th out of 79 provinces on revenue per company. Krabi ranks 32nd by count and climbs to 40th on revenue per company, near the middle of the country. More companies do not guarantee more revenue per company in Thailand's tourism provinces.
How does Phuket compare to Krabi in business terms?
Phuket counts 52,557 registered companies (DBD, 2026). Krabi counts 7,793, so Phuket has 6.7 times as many. Phuket ranks seventh nationally by company count out of 79 provinces. Krabi ranks 32nd. Flip the measure to revenue per company and the ranking flips too. The average Phuket company reports 7.7 million baht in revenue, a rank of 74th out of 79 provinces, near the very bottom of the country. The average Krabi company reports 14.8 million baht, a rank of 40th, close to the middle of the table. Krabi's average firm earns 92 percent more revenue than Phuket's average firm. A tourism province with far more companies turns in one of the weakest average returns per firm in Thailand. Its quieter neighbor sits comfortably in the middle of the pack.
Average annual revenue per company
- Phuket8
- Krabi15
Figures in million baht per company.
Krabi squeezes more revenue out of every registered firm than Phuket does, despite having a fraction of the companies.
Phuket and Krabi side by side
| Measure | Phuket | Krabi |
|---|---|---|
| Registered companies | 52,557 | 7,793 |
| Total revenue | 404.4 billion baht | 115.3 billion baht |
| Average revenue per company | 7.7 million baht | 14.8 million baht |
| National rank by company count | 7th of 79 | 32nd of 79 |
| National rank by total revenue | 18th of 79 | 38th of 79 |
| National rank by revenue per company | 74th of 79 | 40th of 79 |
| Share of national companies | 2.64% | 0.39% |
| Share of national revenue | 0.50% | 0.14% |
Registered companies and reported revenue by province, as of 17 Jul 2026.
Why the gap matters
Phuket and Krabi sell the same regional story to visitors, blue water, limestone cliffs and beach towns, yet their company registers behave very differently. Phuket's tourism economy runs on volume. Thousands of guesthouses, dive operators, tour agents, restaurants and transport firms compete for the same flow of arrivals, which spreads revenue thin across a huge base of registered entities. Krabi's business register is far smaller but its average firm carries more weight. Krabi is also one of Thailand's major palm oil and rubber growing provinces, industries built around plantations, mills and processing plants that typically report larger contract revenue than a single dive shop or guesthouse. The province level data used here does not break revenue down by industry, so that remains a reasonable explanation rather than a confirmed one. What the numbers do confirm is the direction. Fewer, larger operators produce more revenue per firm than many small ones, and Krabi's position near the middle of the national table, despite a fraction of Phuket's company count, shows that forming companies and earning revenue per company are two different games. A policymaker chasing company formation should study Phuket. A policymaker chasing revenue efficiency per registered firm should study Krabi.
Definitions
- Registered company
- A juristic person recorded in the DBD registry, whether or not it has ever filed a financial statement or is currently active.
- Aggregate revenue
- The sum of the latest filed financial statement revenue across all companies registered in a province, not a single fiscal year total for the province's economy.
- Average revenue per company
- Aggregate provincial revenue divided by the total count of registered companies in that province, including non filers, used here as a province wide intensity measure.
- National rank
- The position of a province among all 79 Thai provinces, Bangkok included, when every province is sorted from highest to lowest on a given measure such as company count or revenue per company.
Assumptions
- Total revenue per province is a stock of the latest filed statement across all years, not a single fiscal year snapshot, so it should be read as reported business scale rather than annual GDP.
- Average revenue per company divides by every registered company, including those that never filed a statement, so it understates the average among companies that actually report.
- Provincial registration reflects where a company is registered, which for some businesses may differ from where day to day operations happen.
- The province level table does not break revenue down by industry, so the palm oil and rubber explanation offered here is a reasonable inference rather than a verified split of Krabi's revenue.
Methodology
Figures are aggregate registered company counts and aggregate reported revenue for Phuket and Krabi from the Department of Business Development registry, compiled in the market_province_insight table as of 17 July 2026. Revenue is the sum of the latest filed financial statement revenue for every company registered in each province, regardless of filing year, so it is a stock of reported activity rather than a single fiscal year figure. Average revenue per company divides total provincial revenue by total registered company count, including companies that have never filed a statement, so it is a province wide intensity measure rather than an average among only the companies that report. National ranks are computed by sorting all 79 Thai provinces, Bangkok included, on each measure.
How we verified this
- Company count ratio recomputed as 52557 divided by 7793 equals 6.74, matching the stated 6.7 times gap.
- Revenue ratio recomputed as 404446017570.47 divided by 115314350635.76 equals 3.51, confirming Phuket's total revenue is about 3.5 times Krabi's despite the 6.7 times gap in company count.
- Average revenue per company recomputed for Phuket as 404446017570.47 divided by 52557 equals 7,695,379 baht, rounded to 7.7 million.
- Average revenue per company recomputed for Krabi as 115314350635.76 divided by 7793 equals 14,797,171 baht, rounded to 14.8 million.
- Average revenue per company gap recomputed as 14,797,171 divided by 7,695,379 equals 1.92, meaning Krabi's average firm earns 92 percent more revenue than Phuket's average firm.
- National shares recomputed against total_entities 1,989,709 and total_revenue 80,146,498,562,463.62 from market_national_insight, giving Phuket 2.64 percent of companies and 0.50 percent of revenue, and Krabi 0.39 percent of companies and 0.14 percent of revenue.
- National ranks confirmed by ranking all 79 rows of market_province_insight by entity_count, by total_revenue, and by total_revenue divided by entity_count. Phuket placed 7th, 18th and 74th respectively. Krabi placed 32nd, 38th and 40th respectively.
References
- Department of Business Development. (2026). Registered juristic persons and financial statement aggregates by province. Ministry of Commerce, Thailand. https://www.dbd.go.th/
- Nation Thailand. (2025). Phuket tops southern Thailand's tourism revenue in early 2025. https://www.nationthailand.com/business/economy/40050632
Frequently asked questions
Does Phuket or Krabi have more registered companies?
Phuket, with 52,557 registered companies against Krabi's 7,793, a gap of 6.7 times.
Which province earns more revenue per company, Phuket or Krabi?
Krabi. Its average company reports 14.8 million baht in revenue against 7.7 million baht in Phuket, 92 percent more.
Why does Phuket rank so low on revenue per company nationally?
Phuket's economy runs on a large number of small tourism operators, guesthouses, dive shops, restaurants and tour agents, which spreads revenue across a huge base of registered firms rather than concentrating it in a few larger ones. That places Phuket 74th out of 79 provinces on revenue per company despite ranking 7th by company count.
How is average revenue per company calculated here?
Total provincial revenue divided by total registered companies in that province, including companies that never filed a financial statement, so it is a province wide intensity measure rather than an average among only the companies that report.
Cite this page
Chatpong L. (2026). Phuket vs Krabi: Companies and Revenue Compared (2026). Max Data Insights. https://maxdatathailand.com/insights/phuket-vs-krabi-business-comparison-2026
Data & corrections
Download the data (CSV)Spot something off, or want to ask about the data? Email insights@maxsolutions.co.th. We publish corrections.
Written by
Chatpong L.Founder, Max Data, Max Solutions Co., Ltd.
Chatpong L. leads Max Data, a company-intelligence platform built on Thailand's official business registry. He writes about the structure of the Thai economy using primary registry data. His work covers company formation, industry concentration, and regional business activity.
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This page reports company-level and aggregate statistics only. It names no individuals and makes no claims about any person. Figures are provided for information and may be revised as source data updates.