Online travel giant Trip.com announced 14 January that the company had received a notice of investigation from the State Administration for Market Regulations of the People's Republic of China (SAMR).
According to an official statement by the OTA, the SAMR has begun investigations over alleged abuse of its dominant market position. No specifics were shared on these suspected allegations.
Under China’s anti-monopoly law, monopolistic practices can include blocking of internet traffic, arbitrary increase in commission fees, and coercive contract terms.
Convicted businesses stand to be fined between one to 10% of their annual revenue from the year before. In this case, Trip.com had reported a 16% year-on-year increase in their Q3 revenue from 2024.
Trip.com said that it would “actively cooperate with the investigation” and that it's business as usual.
Capital Beijing has been stepping up on suspected unfair competition – especially in the rapidly evolving digital economy – including its recently amended Anti-Unfair Competition Law in June 2025.
Amendments include regulating unfair business practices specifically in the digital economy by curbing ‘involuntary competition' and abuse of technologies and data, alongside enhancing anti-commercial bribery measures and penalties.
In a similar probe back in 2021, Chinese authorities had slapped Alibaba with a record 18 billion yuan (US$2.58 billion) fine on the e-commerce company, who was found to have abused its market position for years.