Trip.com faces regulatory storm

The Sword of Damocles of regulation has fallen, and Trip.com is now facing unprecedented challenges.

On January 14th, the State Administration for Market Regulation issued an announcement stating that, based on previous investigations and in accordance with the "Anti-Monopoly Law of the People's Republic of China," it had opened an investigation into Trip.com Group for suspected monopoly practices through abuse of its market dominance.

After news of the investigation was made public, Trip.com was immediately hit on the capital markets. On that day, Trip.com's Hong Kong stock closed down 6.49%, with a significant evaporation of market value; in U.S. pre-market trading, Trip.com’s share price once plummeted over 15.70%.

Faced with the investigation, Trip.com quickly issued an official response, stating it will “actively cooperate with regulatory departments in their investigation, fully implement regulatory requirements, and work with all parties in the industry to build a market environment for sustainable development.” Trip.com emphasized that all its business operations remain normal and that it will continue to provide high-quality services to users and partners.

The registration of this case by SAMR was not a sudden move. The phrase “based on previous investigations” in the notice shows that regulators have already conducted comprehensive preliminary investigations, evidence collection, and initial analysis.

It is understood that Trip.com was founded in 1999, starting with hotel bookings and air ticket agency business, and gradually expanding to provide comprehensive travel services.

Through a series of strategic acquisitions, Trip.com expanded rapidly. Between 2014 and 2018, it completed the merger with Qunar and the acquisition of Skyscanner, building a multi-layered brand matrix covering various market segments.

According to its third-quarter financial results for 2025, Trip.com achieved revenue of 18.3 billion yuan, up 16% year-on-year; net profit reached 19.9 billion yuan, up 192.6% year-on-year.

In terms of market share, based on estimates by BOC International for 2024 data, Trip.com holds a 56% share of the OTA market calculated by gross merchandise value, firmly occupying the leading position in the industry.

In the capital markets, Trip.com went public on Nasdaq in December 2003, and in April 2021, completed a secondary listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange via introduction. By 2025, Trip.com ranked among China's top ten internet companies in terms of market value.

Since 2023, the tourism market has rebounded, and industry competition has intensified.

In 2025 alone, JD.com entered the hotel and travel sector, launched a primary “Life & Travel” section on its app’s homepage, and introduced an “unbundled” flight ticket service and hotel subsidy policies; Fliggy, as part of Alibaba’s major consumer platform, saw its fulfillment GMV during the 2025 National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holidays increase by 48% compared to last year.

According to QuestMobile data for 2025, as of June, Trip.com, Meituan, and JD.com had a significantly increased overlap in user base, with 65.21 million overlapping users, up 20.4% year-on-year. This phenomenon indicates intensified competition in the online travel market and shows that users increasingly engage in price comparisons across platforms, gradually blurring the boundaries of platform services.

Because of the fierce competition, some of Trip.com’s actions have led to dissatisfaction among merchants and consumers in the industry, prompting regulatory intervention.

Analysts at Huatai Securities previously expressed a cautious attitude in their research reports, stating, “Trip.com faces monopoly investigations and compliance rectification issues, which may pressure its profit growth over the next 1-2 years; meanwhile, intensified industry competition could trigger price wars, further eroding profit margins.”

In fact, since last year, some local market regulators have also had discussions with Trip.com.

In August 2025, Guizhou Provincial Administration for Market Regulation held joint talks with Trip.com and four other travel-related platform companies. The discussions focused on potential issues such as “choose one of two” practices, technical intervention in merchant pricing, order breaches or price increases after orders are effective, price fraud, and price gouging on related platforms.

In September, Zhengzhou City Market Regulatory Bureau also held administrative talks with Trip.com’s operating entity according to law. An official notice of correction was issued, requiring amendments to contract terms and optimization of pricing tools as part of rectification tasks.

Most notable to the public was a move in December last year when the Yunnan Provincial Homestay Industry Association initiated an anti-monopoly rights protection campaign targeting OTA platforms, specifically naming Trip.com.

The association pointed out: “In recent years, we have received numerous complaints from members, reporting that Trip.com and other OTA platforms use their market dominance to impose unfair competition practices on Yunnan’s homestay industry, including but not limited to ‘choose one of two’ clausula abusiva, arbitrary unilateral commission hikes, etc.”

On the user side, many users have accused Trip.com of “price discrimination through big data.”

As of January 14th, according to Black Cat Complaint Platform, a search for “Trip.com” returned 160,000 complaints, while a search for “Trip.com big data price discrimination” returned 101 complaints, with top-ranked consumer complaints describing short-term fluctuations in air ticket prices.

This investigation into Trip.com is also the latest example of deepening anti-monopoly regulation of China’s internet platform economy.

Looking back over the past few years, China’s internet anti-monopoly efforts have developed from nothing. In December 2020, the Central Economic Work Conference first explicitly proposed “strengthening anti-monopoly and preventing unchecked capital expansion.”

Subsequently, a series of heavy anti-monopoly actions followed: in 2021, Alibaba was fined 18.228 billion yuan for its “choose one of two” monopoly practice; Meituan was also investigated for the same reason and later fined 3.442 billion yuan.

Furthermore, Article 57 of the "Anti-Monopoly Law of the People's Republic of China" stipulates that operators abusing market dominance shall be ordered by anti-monopoly enforcement agencies to cease illegal acts, have illegal gains confiscated, and be fined at least 1% and no more than 10% of the previous year’s sales revenue.

Returning to the tourism industry, this anti-monopoly investigation could become a watershed moment for China's online tourism industry.

After regulatory intervention, industry competition may be reshaped, small and medium-sized merchants may gain more development opportunities, and consumers may expect a more equitable and transparent spending environment.

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