China said on Saturday it has imposed penalties of nearly 5.2bn yuan (R12.92bn) on Trip.com Group, which operates the country’s largest online travel platform, over claims of monopolistic conduct.Trip.com, which runs Ctrip and Skyscanner among other brands, was said to be restricting market competition through means such as entering into exclusive partnerships with some hotels and offering prioritised traffic allocation to them, China’s State Administration for Market Regulation said.It prohibited some hotels from collaborating with competing platforms, the regulator added, and had also demanded some hotel operators who were operating on multiple platforms ensure the rates for their platforms were the lowest available online.The regulator said Trip.com had been abusing its dominant market position in the sector since 2020.The regulator, which started its investigation against Trip.com in January, said it had confiscated “illegal gains” of more than 1.6bn yuan (R3.98bn) from the group and had imposed a fine of more than 3.5bn yuan (R8.7bn).The company was also asked to refund about 122m yuan (R303.2m) which it was withholding from hotel operators.Trip.com’s behaviour had “eliminated and restricted market competition, constrained hotel operators from conducting cross-platform business, infringed upon hotel operators’ right to set their own prices and harmed consumer interests”, the regulator said.Trip.com acknowledged the decision on Saturday, adding that it “sincerely accepts and will resolutely comply” with the penalties.“[We will] systematically implement the rectification measures item-by-item and ensure their full execution,” the group said.AP