Trip.com faces regulatory storm

The regulatory sword of Damocles has fallen, and Trip.com is facing unprecedented challenges.

On January 14, the State Administration for Market Regulation announced that it has launched an investigation into Trip.com Group Limited for suspected monopolistic behavior by abusing its dominant market position, based on prior checks and in accordance with the Anti-Monopoly Law of the People's Republic of China.

Following the announcement of the investigation, Trip.com was immediately impacted in the capital market. The company's Hong Kong stock closed down 6.49% on the same day, with a significant evaporation of market value, and its stock price fell by more than 15.70% in pre-market trading in the U.S.

In response to the investigation, Trip.com quickly issued an official statement, expressing its intention to "actively cooperate with regulatory authorities, fully implement regulatory requirements, and work with all parties in the industry to build a sustainable market environment." Trip.com emphasized that all business operations are currently running normally and that it will continue to provide quality services to users and partners.

The decision by the State Administration for Market Regulation to initiate this investigation was not sudden. The phrase "based on prior checks" in the announcement indicates that the regulatory agency has conducted thorough preliminary investigations, evidence collection, and initial assessments.

It is understood that Trip.com was founded in 1999, starting with hotel bookings and ticketing services, and gradually expanded to comprehensive travel services.

Through a series of strategic acquisitions, Trip.com has rapidly expanded. Between 2014 and 2018, it completed the merger with Qunar.com and the acquisition of Skyscanner, building a brand matrix that covers multi-tiered markets.

According to the Q3 2025 financial report, Trip.com achieved revenue of 18.3 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 16%; net profit reached 19.9 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 192.6%.

In terms of market share, according to estimates from CMB International for 2024, Trip.com holds a market share of 56% in the OTA market based on gross merchandise volume, firmly maintaining its leading position in the industry.

In the capital market, Trip.com was listed on the NASDAQ in December 2003; in April 2021, it completed a secondary listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange through a direct listing method. By 2025, based on market capitalization alone, Trip.com has firmly established itself among the top ten internet companies in China.

Since 2023, the tourism market has been recovering, and competition in the industry has intensified.

In 2025 alone, JD.com entered the hotel and travel sector, launching a "Lifestyle Travel" primary entry on its app homepage, offering "unbundled" flight services and hotel subsidy policies; Fliggy, as part of Alibaba's consumer platform, saw a 48% year-on-year increase in GMV during the National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holiday in 2025.

Data from QuestMobile in 2025 shows that as of June, the user overlap among Trip.com, Meituan, and JD.com has significantly increased, with the overlapping user base reaching 65.21 million, a year-on-year increase of 20.4%. This phenomenon reflects the intensifying competition in the online travel market, with users increasingly comparing prices across different platforms and the boundaries of services between platforms becoming increasingly blurred Due to intense competition, some of Ctrip's actions have led to dissatisfaction among industry merchants and consumers, triggering regulatory intervention.

Analysts from Huatai Securities previously expressed a cautious attitude in their research report, stating, "The monopoly investigation and compliance rectification issues faced by Ctrip may put pressure on its profit growth in the next 1-2 years; at the same time, intensified industry competition may lead to price wars, further eroding profit margins."

In fact, since last year, market regulatory agencies in some regions have conducted discussions with Ctrip.

In August 2025, the Guizhou Provincial Market Supervision Administration held a concentrated discussion with Ctrip and five other travel platform companies. This discussion addressed potential issues such as the implementation of "choose one of two," using technical means to interfere with merchant pricing, breaching contracts or raising prices after order confirmation, price fraud, and price gouging.

In September, the Zhengzhou Market Supervision Administration legally conducted an administrative discussion with the operating entity of Ctrip Travel Network. They issued a "Notice of Correction Order," requiring the completion of contract clause revisions and optimization of pricing tools.

More widely known is the initiative launched in December last year by the Yunnan Provincial Tourism Homestay Industry Association, which initiated anti-monopoly rights protection work against OTA platforms, specifically targeting Ctrip and similar platforms.

The association pointed out: "In recent years, the association has received numerous complaints from members, reflecting that OTA platforms like Ctrip have used their market dominance to implement unfair competition practices, including but not limited to 'choose one of two' clauses and arbitrary commission increases."

On the user side, many users have accused Ctrip of "big data killing familiarity."

As of January 14, on the Black Cat Complaint platform, there were 160,000 complaints found using "Ctrip" as a keyword, while 101 complaints were found using "Ctrip big data killing familiarity," with the top consumer descriptions all related to short-term fluctuations in flight prices.

Ctrip's investigation is also the latest case in the deepening anti-monopoly regulation of China's internet platform economy.

Looking back over the past few years, China's internet anti-monopoly has gone from non-existent to established. In December 2020, the Central Economic Work Conference first explicitly proposed "strengthening anti-monopoly and preventing disorderly capital expansion."

Subsequently, a series of strong anti-monopoly measures were implemented: In 2021, Alibaba was fined 18.228 billion yuan for "choose one of two" monopoly behavior; Meituan was also investigated for the same reason and later fined 3.442 billion yuan.

Article 57 of the Anti-Monopoly Law of the People's Republic of China clearly states that operators who abuse their market dominance shall be ordered by anti-monopoly enforcement agencies to stop illegal activities, confiscate illegal gains, and impose fines of more than 1% but less than 10% of the previous year's sales.

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

After regulatory intervention, the competitive landscape of the industry may be reshaped, allowing small and medium-sized merchants to gain more development space, and consumers can expect a fairer and more transparent consumption environment