China has opened an antitrust investigation into Trip.com, the country’s largest online travel services provider, reports the South China Morning Post. The moves comes just weeks before hundreds of millions of people on the mainland go away on holiday during the Lunar New Year break.
The State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) on Wednesday said the group–operator of namesake platform Trip.com, Skyscanner, Ctrip, Qunar and Dutch site Travix–abused its “dominant market position” and engaged in “monopolistic practices”.
The investigation was launched after a preliminary inquiry into the firm’s operations, according to the SAMR.
In a social media post, Trip.com said it would “actively cooperate with the regulator’s investigation, fully implement regulatory requirements and work with all industry stakeholders to build a sustainable market environment”. It added that all of its operations were proceeding normally.