Trip.com shares tumble after China launches antitrust probe into travel giant

Shares of Trip.com Group plunged sharply on Thursday after China’s top market regulator said it had opened an antitrust investigation into the online travel services provider, triggering the company’s steepest selloff since its Hong Kong listing in 2021.

The stock fell nearly 22% in Hong Kong, making Trip.com the worst performer on the Hang Seng index for the session.

The decline followed a 17% drop in the company’s American depositary receipts overnight in New York.

The selloff put the shares on course for their worst day in Hong Kong since they were listed in April 2021.

China’s State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) late Wednesday said it was investigating Trip.com due to “suspected abuse of its dominant market position and monopolistic practices,” according to a CNBC translation of the statement in Mandarin.

Antitrust probe triggers sharp market reaction

Trip.com’s Hong Kong-listed shares were trading around 457.6 Hong Kong dollars at the time of writing, after losing roughly a fifth of their value.

Market data showed the fall erased tens of billions of Hong Kong dollars in market capitalization in a single day.

The regulator said it had begun the probe following initial investigations.

Trip.com later confirmed it had received a formal notice of investigation from SAMR and said it would “actively cooperate” with authorities, adding that its business operations were functioning as usual.

The investigation echoes previous high-profile enforcement actions against major Chinese technology firms.

In 2021, SAMR fined Alibaba Group a record 18.2 billion yuan ($2.8 billion) after it was found guilty of monopolistic practices, a case that marked a turning point in Beijing’s regulatory scrutiny of internet platforms.

Analysts flag pricing practices, potential fines

Analysts at Nomura said the Trip.com probe could have been prompted by concerns from hotel operators about the company’s influence over pricing.

According to Nomura, some hoteliers have complained about Trip.com’s interference in pricing and, in certain cases, its insistence on maintaining the lowest hotel-room prices compared with those offered on rival travel platforms.

Under China’s antitrust law, companies found to have abused a dominant market position can face fines of between 1% and 10% of their revenue in the previous year.

Citi analysts said this implies a potential fine of between 490 million yuan and 4.9 billion yuan, or roughly $70 million to $700 million, for Trip.com based on their calculations.

Nomura said the investigation is unlikely to fundamentally undermine Trip.com’s dominant position in China’s online travel market.

However, it could weaken the company’s influence over hotels, particularly independent operators that often rely heavily on online travel agencies for customer traffic, the bank said.

Tourism outlook remains strong despite scrutiny

Trip.com is the largest online travel provider in Asia by market capitalization and one of the biggest globally.

The company has stakes in UK-based flight aggregator Skyscanner, Indian travel company MakeMyTrip, and several other Chinese travel providers.

The probe comes at a time when China’s tourism sector is expected to continue its recovery and expansion.

Travel marketing and technology firm China Trading Desk estimates that mainland Chinese travelers are expected to take about 165 million to 175 million cross-border trips in 2026, up from an estimated 155 million last year.

Domestic travel has also shown steady growth.

Travel consultancy Dragon Trail International said that in 2025, 501 million Chinese traveled domestically during the Chinese New Year holiday period, a 5.9% year-on-year increase.

Tourism spending during the period reached 6.77 billion yuan, up 7%.

The upcoming Chinese New Year holiday, scheduled to be observed between Feb. 5 and Feb. 23, is expected to be another major test of travel demand, even as regulatory scrutiny adds uncertainty for the sector’s largest players.

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