Trip.com antitrust woes give rivals chance of sun

Meituan

28/07/2026 05:13

The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.
By Ka Sing Chan
HONG KONG, July 28 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Chinese travellers may soon be able to enjoy more competition for their business – and will have the country's antitrust watchdogs to thank. One has just fined Trip.com 9961.HK, TCOM.O $770 million. Granted, that's not going to dislodge the $29 billion company from its commanding position in the online travel market overnight. But Beijing's crackdowns on monopolistic practices have a history of narrowing incumbents' moats. As Trip.com spends to strengthen its AI capabilities and repair regulatory trust, rivals Meituan 3690.HK and Alibaba's 9988.HK Fliggy have a familiar opening to gain ground.
The penalty equates to an unprecedented 7.5% of Trip.com's 2025 revenue. In 2021, Alibaba was fined 4% of revenue and Meituan 3% for exclusivity practices that shut out smaller players in e-commerce and food delivery, respectively. As Beijing intended, competition has intensified. For instance, Alibaba and JD.com 9618.HK have since poured billions of dollars into Meituan’s turf, although the rivalry has now become so intense that regulators are trying to curb “involution-style” competition. Having endured that pain, Alibaba and Meituan may see opportunity in China's online travel market, where Trip.com still commands a 56% share.
Competition will also come from AI-powered agents that are becoming increasingly adept at making recommendations and completing bookings. That means Trip.com will need to keep investing to defend its position. The cost could further squeeze margins just as regulatory changes threaten to slow growth.
Trip.com CEO Jane Sun told investors on Monday that the company would end distribution arrangements that gave it greater sway over hotel pricing and inventory. It also plans to spend more on inbound tourism, technology and services for domestic partners. That should help expand the travel market, a key part of Beijing's consumption push, rather than players simply fighting for a bigger slice of the existing pie. Sun warned the transition could bring "some fluctuations" in financial performance. Analysts expect the Nasdaq-listed firm’s underlying net profit to drop 15% to 13.5 billion yuan in 2026, per Visible Alpha data. 
A similar crackdown on e-commerce and food-delivery platforms five years ago came as growth was slowing. Tourism presents a more attractive backdrop. China's domestic travellers made 6.5 billion trips in 2025, up 16.2% from a year earlier, while spending rose 9.5% to 6.3 trillion yuan, according to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. Such rapid growth is likely to tempt Trip.com’s rivals to push harder.
     
CONTEXT NEWS
China’s State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) said on July 25 it had fined and confiscated a total of 5.2 billion yuan ($770 million) from Trip.com Group for abusing its dominant position in the domestic market for online travel booking.
Trip.com CEO Jane Sun said on July 27 that the company sincerely accepts the antitrust regulator’s decision and that it intends to promote competition based on service quality and customer experience, rather than relying primarily on pricing-related mechanisms.  

(Editing by Antony Currie; Production by Ujjaini Dutta)
((For previous columns by the author, Reuters customers can click on CHAN/ KaSing.Chan@thomsonreuters.com))