Where Thailand's Gazelle Industry Codes Concentrate in 2026
In short
Accommodation and food service concentrates Thailand's largest share of gazelle industry codes, at 50.0 percent, using the Eurostat threshold of 20 percent annualized growth over three years. Arts and entertainment follows at 33.3 percent, other services at 29.2 percent, and education at 27.3 percent. Electricity and gas, water and waste, and real estate posted zero gazelle codes across the same three years, as of 14 Aug 2026. Across all 981 named industries measured, 111 qualify as gazelles, an economy wide rate of 11.3 percent.
Which industry section concentrates the most gazelle codes?
Accommodation and food service concentrates Thailand's largest share of gazelle industry codes. Nine of its 18 named industries cleared an annualized growth rate above 20 percent over the three years to statement year 2568, a 50.0 percent gazelle share (DBD, 2026). Guesthouses lead the section at 40.9 percent annualized growth, drinking places serving mostly alcohol follow at 37.1 percent, and hotels sit at 23.6 percent. Arts and entertainment ranks second among sections at 33.3 percent, other services third at 29.2 percent, and education fourth at 27.3 percent. Across the full registry only 111 of 981 named industries meet the gazelle threshold, an economy wide rate of 11.3 percent. Every section in the top four runs at more than double that rate.
Gazelle industry code share by TSIC section
- Accommodation and food service50
- Arts, entertainment and recreation33
- Other services29
- Education27
- Transportation and storage22
- Financial and insurance21
- Human health and social work18
- Mining and quarrying16
- Administrative and support14
- Information and communication14
- Agriculture, forestry and fishing14
- Wholesale and retail trade10
- Professional, scientific and technical7
- Construction5
- Manufacturing4
- Water supply and waste management0
- Electricity and gas0
- Real estate0
Figures in percent of named industries classified as gazelles.
Accommodation and food service, arts and entertainment, other services and education fill the top four spots. Electricity and gas, water and waste, and real estate sit at zero.
Gazelle industry codes by section, 3 years to 2568 BE
| Industry section | Named industries | Gazelle codes | Gazelle share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Accommodation and food service | 18 | 9 | 50.0% |
| Arts, entertainment and recreation | 18 | 6 | 33.3% |
| Other services | 24 | 7 | 29.2% |
| Education | 22 | 6 | 27.3% |
| Transportation and storage | 49 | 11 | 22.4% |
| Financial and insurance | 34 | 7 | 20.6% |
| Human health and social work | 17 | 3 | 17.6% |
| Mining and quarrying | 19 | 3 | 15.8% |
| Administrative and support | 42 | 6 | 14.3% |
| Information and communication | 50 | 7 | 14.0% |
| Agriculture, forestry and fishing | 79 | 11 | 13.9% |
| Wholesale and retail trade | 167 | 17 | 10.2% |
| Professional, scientific and technical | 28 | 2 | 7.1% |
| Construction | 22 | 1 | 4.5% |
| Manufacturing | 367 | 15 | 4.1% |
| Water supply and waste management | 13 | 0 | 0.0% |
| Electricity and gas | 6 | 0 | 0.0% |
| Real estate | 6 | 0 | 0.0% |
Named industries, gazelle codes and gazelle share by TSIC section, as of 14 Aug 2026.
Why this matters
High growth in Thailand's company registry clusters in service lines that need little fixed capital to start or expand. Accommodation and food service, arts and entertainment, other services and education fill the top four spots, and none of them require a power plant or a pipeline network to operate. Electricity and gas sits at the opposite extreme with zero gazelle codes. Its fastest mover, steam and air conditioning supply, managed only 2.8 percent annualized growth, and its largest code, electric power generation and transmission, shrank by 7.2 percent a year over the same window. Regulated tariffs and multi-year construction timelines make a 20 percent growth sprint almost impossible for a utility. Real estate and water and waste management posted zero gazelle codes too, and for a related reason, assets with long lives do not move fast. A founder chasing high growth registration trends in Thailand is chasing hospitality, entertainment and personal service codes, not infrastructure. None of this guarantees survival. A code that grew fast for three years can still stall in the fourth, so treat this as a map of where growth concentrated, not a forecast of who wins next.
Definitions
- Gazelle
- An industry code whose aggregate reported revenue grew at an annualized rate above 20 percent over a three year window, adapting Eurostat's high growth enterprise definition from individual firms to industry classification codes.
- Named industry
- A five digit TSIC industry code that carries an English description in the registry's industry trend data, as opposed to codes tracked only in section level aggregates.
- Annualized growth rate
- The constant yearly growth rate that would take a starting value to an ending value over a fixed number of years, calculated as the ending value divided by the starting value, raised to the power of one over the number of years, minus one.
- TSIC section
- One of the 21 lettered top level groups in Thailand's Standard Industrial Classification, such as manufacturing or education.
- Statement year
- The fiscal year a company's financial statement covers, recorded in the Buddhist calendar in the DBD registry. Subtract 543 to convert to the Gregorian calendar.
Assumptions
- Revenue stands in for the turnover measure Eurostat originally intended, since employee counts are not available in this registry.
- Industry codes flagged with a partial filing year, or missing a computable growth rate, are excluded from both the numerator and the denominator.
- Public administration, households and extraterritorial organizations are not covered because too few of their companies file the financial statements this growth measure needs.
- A code clearing the gazelle threshold once does not mean every company inside it is growing. Aggregate revenue can be pulled up by a small number of fast movers.
Methodology
A gazelle here follows Eurostat's high growth enterprise threshold, an annualized growth rate above 20 percent over a three year window, applied to Thailand's five digit TSIC industry codes rather than to individual firms. Growth for each code comes from a precomputed three year compound annual growth rate in the DBD registry's industry trend data, comparing aggregate reported revenue in statement year 2568 BE, 2025 in the Gregorian calendar, against statement year 2565 BE, 2022 in the Gregorian calendar. Codes flagged with a partial filing year, or with no computable growth rate, are excluded, leaving 981 of 1,008 named industries. Sections shown are the 18 lettered TSIC groups that carry named industry codes in this data. Public administration, households and extraterritorial organizations have too few reporting companies to appear. Data are drawn from the DBD registry as of 14 August 2026.
How we verified this
- National gazelle share recomputed as 111 gazelle codes divided by 981 named industries equals 11.3 percent, matching the figure queried directly for the whole registry.
- Accommodation and food service recomputed as 9 of 18 named industries equals 50.0 percent, confirmed as the highest share of any section.
- Electricity and gas, water and waste management, and real estate each recomputed as 0 gazelle codes out of their named industries, a 0.0 percent share in all three, confirmed as the lowest in the table.
- Summing gazelle codes across all 18 sections, 9 plus 6 plus 7 plus 6 plus 11 plus 7 plus 3 plus 3 plus 6 plus 7 plus 11 plus 17 plus 2 plus 1 plus 15 plus 0 plus 0 plus 0, equals 111, matching the national total queried separately.
References
- Department of Business Development. (2026). Registered juristic persons and financial statement aggregates by industry code. Ministry of Commerce, Thailand. https://www.dbd.go.th/
- Eurostat. (2026). Glossary: gazelle. Statistics Explained, European Commission. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Glossary:Gazelle
Frequently asked questions
Which Thai industry section has the most gazelle industry codes?
Accommodation and food service. 9 of its 18 named industries grew at an annualized rate above 20 percent over the three years to statement year 2568 BE, a 50.0 percent share.
What counts as a gazelle industry code?
An industry code whose aggregate reported revenue grew at an annualized rate above 20 percent over a three year window, adapting Eurostat's high growth enterprise definition from individual firms to industry classification codes.
Which sections have no gazelle codes at all?
Electricity and gas, water supply and waste management, and real estate each recorded zero gazelle codes among their named industries over the three years to statement year 2568 BE.
What is Thailand's economy wide gazelle rate?
11.3 percent. Of 981 named industries with a computable three year growth rate, 111 cleared the 20 percent annualized threshold.
Cite this page
Chatpong L. (2026). Where Thailand's Gazelle Industry Codes Concentrate in 2026. Max Data Insights. https://maxdatathailand.com/insights/which-thai-sectors-concentrate-the-most-gazelle-industries-2026
Data & corrections
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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.