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Ralph Jennings

Chinese regulators are targeting one of the world’s biggest travel platforms in an anti-monopoly probe after complaints it had hurt travellers and travel operators in China’s expansive tourism market, analysts said.
Unlike the broad legal actions against Chinese tech firms and cram schools five years ago, the investigation into Trip.com is seen as a relatively isolated case – yet one that might precipitate others – in response to issues over commissions, exclusivity and the sophisticated use of pricing algorithms.
“If a platform is no longer just matching buyers and sellers but effectively deciding how an industry functions, regulatory logic shifts from correcting behaviour to preventing market governance from being ‘privatised’,” said Alberto Vettoretti, managing partner of business consultancy Dezan Shira & Associates.
“Current actions are largely driven by compliance and evidence, targeting specific companies and practices rather than signalling a wholesale crackdown on platform businesses.”
On January 14, the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) said Trip.com – operator of its own booking platform as well as Skyscanner, Ctrip, Qunar and Travix – abused its “dominant market position” and engaged in “monopolistic practices”.
Trip.com was founded in China as Ctrip in 1999 before acquiring other companies and rebranding under its current name in 2019.

The investigation followed years of complaints about data-driven price discrimination and rising commissions, Vettoretti said, adding that those voices had recently become “organised” and “public”.
Industry groups accused Trip.com of “abusing its market position” through algorithm-driven price intervention and forced exclusivity, he said. That practice forces merchants to sell only on one platform.
The Yunnan Provincial Tourism Homestay Industry Association, for example, issued a statement in November saying Trip.com had enforced an “unfair” exclusivity clause and increased commissions “unilaterally”. It vowed to carry out “anti-monopoly work” of its own.
Brian Linden, co-founder of the Linden Centre hotels in southwestern Yunnan province, said this month Trip.com remained a core source of business but also “the only one in town and controlling access to so many travellers”.
He added that the company had long valued working with Trip.com, “but at the same time there are some complications because they are so large”.
Trip.com had gradually secured its role as the main gateway for domestic flights and hotel bookings, making it increasingly difficult for newer competitors, said Bian Siyu, assistant researcher at the think tank Anbound in Beijing.

Sluggish consumer spending left hotels and other supply-side businesses more dependent on platforms, Bian added.
Trip.com reported net income of 29.1 billion yuan (US$4.1 billion) in the first three quarters of 2025. By comparison, the combined profit of about 1,600 hotels in Beijing over the same period was just 1.2 billion yuan, Bian estimated.
The investigation – with which Trip.com said it would “actively cooperate” – had been launched as regulators felt compelled to control prices against weak consumer spending, experts said.
“Recent policy signals seem to indicate that SAMR would be allowed to take more aggressive actions against firms this year,” said Christopher Beddor, deputy China research director at Gavekal Dragonomics in Hong Kong.
“There seems to be a tentative merging of anti-monopoly enforcement into the anti-involution campaign,” he said, referring to cutthroat pricing condemned by top officials.
“An anti-monopoly investigation would suggest there’s too little competition, but it seems to be all part of a broader push to curb any sort of competition that policymakers view as undesirable,” Beddor said.
China revised its Anti-Unfair Competition Laws last year, adding clauses focused on the country’s largest online platforms. The changes address, among other things, any abuse of “advantageous position” by large enterprises.
The State Council also announced in early January a market competition inquiry into food delivery platforms.
Trip.com said in a statement to the Post that it would “continue to collaborate with industry stakeholders to foster a healthy and sustainable market environment”.


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Regulators accuse one of the world’s biggest travel platforms of abusing market power, with analysts warning of wider industry scrutiny


Regulators accuse one of the world’s biggest travel platforms of abusing market power, with analysts warning of wider industry scrutiny.


China probe into Trip.com zeroes in on algorithms, prices after vendor backlash: analysts

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Regulators accuse one of the world’s biggest travel platforms of abusing market power, with analysts warning of wider industry scrutiny

Regulators accuse one of the world’s biggest travel platforms of abusing market power, with analysts warning of wider industry scrutiny